Her Chuujitsu
by CN
Summary: ...it takes courage and loyalty to come back to something that nearly destroyed you, but that's exactly what she did...HamtaroBijou
1. Bijou

I decided to try something serious instead of a humor story.

They're Ham-Human in this story.

The characters don't belong to me.

There are suffixes after character's names to emphasize the fact that they are in Japan.

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**Bijou**

"Boss-kun, I thought you would understand."

Two Ham-Human silhouettes could be made out in the dark blue blanket of the night sky. One of them stayed quiet, the severity of the situation was too heavy for him to speak.

Boss looked at Bijou as she swung ever so slightly in her tree swing. For the past few days she had looked sicker, paler, sadder. But never would he have ever guesses the reason for her inter depression was…

"Bijou-chan, why did you tell me this?" he asked at length.

"Because someone had to know, and I know how much you care for me!" she exclaimed, raising her voice for the first time that night. "You should know how unrequited love feels so that you would know why I am doing this."

Bijou stood up after hearing Boss's silence, "You should get some sleep. School starts in a few hours."

Boss's lips began to tremble, ignoring what she just said. "But this isn't the way, Bijou-chan…"

Even through the darkness he could see diamond like tears fall from her eyes.

"Boss-kun, if I stay here another day like this, I won't survive…"

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Hamtaro walked through the streets, diligently carrying his orange umbrella over his head.

_The rain sure is coming down really hard today._

On his way to the bus stop, he always stopped by Bijou's house. Sometimes, they'd walk to the stop together. Today was no exception.

He saw her, standing before the large iron gates of her house. She had her backpack slung around her shoulder.

Perhaps if it weren't raining, he would have noticed the tearstains on her face…

"Good morning, Bijou-chan!" he cried, walking up to her. She turned her head to him, nodding as an acknowledgement to his presence.

"Aren't you annoyed by the rain?" he asked as he put his umbrella over her head, noticing that she had no umbrella of her own.

She stepped out from under his umbrella. "Hamtaro-san, my ride will be here any minute."

"Ride? So you won't be taking the bus to school today?" he asked, once again putting the umbrella over her head.

"No, Hamtaro-san, I won't be taking the bus to school today," she replied, controlling the cracks in her voice. Once again, she stepped out from under his umbrella.

Hamtaro stared at the girl curiously for a moment. There was some sort of tension in the air. But why?

"I'll see you later, Bijou-chan," he said, starting to walk towards the bus stop which was another couple of blocks away.

He walked away just in time to not hear Bijou say, "No you won't, Hamtaro-san…"

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"Hey, Boss-san!" Hamtaro chirped as he met his friend at the stop.

Boss grunted. He was in no mood to talk to Hamtaro today.

"You and Bijou-chan are strange. Aren't you getting wet from the rain?" Hamtaro asked, realizing that Boss also had no umbrella.

"You saw her today?" Boss asked incredulously. Hamtaro seemed very happy, completely indifferent to Bijou's state of being.

"Yeah. She's getting a ride to school today," Hamtaro explained. "That's why she's not with me."

"Hamtaro," Boss choked out, restraining tears and causing Hamtaro goosebumps with the coldness of his voice, "how can you be so foolish?"

"Boss-san?" Hamtaro asked, his head cocking to the side.

"She's not going to school, Hamtaro-san."

"Why?"

"She's leaving."

"Bo--what!"

"Hamtaro, she's leaving," Boss repeated. Hamtaro could see how upset Boss was over this: his dark brown eyes became pools of teary waters.

"And if I'm not mistaken, her ride should have picked her up five minutes ago."

Hamtaro didn't let what Boss just said settle in. He sprinted to Bijou's house, his orange umbrella left on the ground, drowning in the rain.

He made it to her house, and thanked the heavens that she was still there, standing sullenly before her house's main gates. He ran up to her, and Bijou looked up in time to see him grab her and make her look at him.

"Bijou-chan!" he exclaimed, panting. "Wh--What is all of this!"

"Nothing," she spoke. Her white bangs were pressed against her forehead, making her green eyes looking even larger.

_How could he have not noticed the tears before?_

"Where are you going?" he hissed.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're my friend!"

"And yet you never take me seriously!" more tears escaped her eyes, despite her attempts to stop them. He immediately let go of her and stared at her with shock.

"…What…?" Hamtaro looked so taken aback as she said those words. Not take her seriously? But she was Bijou-chan, the one and only…The one who always wore blue ribbons in her hair, the one who always talked about Paris, the one…

"Bijou-chan, there's something I have to tell you," he said slowly, having no control over his own words. He reached out to her, but she slapped his hand away immediately.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked.

Hamtaro tried to ignore the sharp pain that he felt in his chest as she looked at him with such anger in her eyes.

"Please, Bijou-chan, there's something you should know!"

"But I don't want to hear it, Hamtaro-san, please-"

"Just let me tell you!"

"No! Leave me alone like you have for the past few years!"

"Why are you leaving?"

"That's not important."

"You didn't even tell us that you were going somewhere…"

"This," she gulped, "this decision wasn't planned…"

"Then why did Boss know?" he asked bitterly.

A black car came driving down the street. It pulled up to where Bijou was standing near the curb.

"Because someone had to tell you why…Hamtaro-san," she spat his name out. As she was getting into the car, Hamtaro grabbed her arm so that she couldn't let go.

"You have to hear what I have to say!"

Bijou let go of the car door handle and brought up her hand to Hamtaro's face. One would have thought she would slap him, but inside, she touched his cheek, more and more tears breaking from her eyes.

What seemed like eternity passed in the span of a few mere seconds. She shook her head.

"No…No…_No_."

She pulled herself away from him. As she got into the car, Hamtaro looked as if the life were being pulled out of him.

"Bijou, _please_!"

But she quickly slammed the door behind her. The car started to drive away.

Millions of raindrops hit his skin, but he was far too numb to even feel them.

After a moment or two, Boss came up behind Hamtaro.

"She left, didn't she?" he asked as his voice cracked more and more with every breath he took.

Hamtaro whipped his head and stared at Boss with an icy glare.

"Where did she go?"

"I don't know, Hamtaro-san-"

"LIAR! Tell me where she went NOW!" He screamed with a voice he didn't know he had.

"She didn't tell me, Hamtaro-san…"

"I'll follow her. I have to. I'm the one to protect her," he said. In his heart, he knew that Bijou was an extremely independent girl. She didn't need anyone to protect her. But he had to be by her side. "She needs me there. I have to be there for her."

"Hamtaro-san, don't act crazy."

"I HAVE TO FOLLOW HER! BIJOU! WAIT! I'LL FIND YOU, WAIT!"

Boss watched sadly as his friend ran down the street, trying to catch the car that had already disappeared from sight.

"I'LL FOLLOW YOU, BIJOU! JUST PLEASE, WAIT!"

"Hamtaro-san," Boss whispered, "she left because of you."

Hamtaro felt his heart stop. "What did you just say?"

"It was all because of you, Hamtaro-san," Boss repeated. "She couldn't stand being near you anymore."

Hamtaro felt his body tremble. Did Bijou really hate him that much?

"But _why_?" he stammered, thinking out loud.

Boss shook his head. "Hamtaro-san, think. All those times she told you she loved you, she wasn't talking about friendship…"

…it wasn't friendship?

…….how could he be so stupid!

"…and she knew you could never take her seriously…"

….he took everything she did seriously. Why didn't she know that?

"…she knew that your feelings for her would never be what hers were for you…"

…she didn't know that…If only she let him speak!

"…she loved you so much, that it nearly destroyed her to think you could never love her back…"

"BIJOU! BIJOU!" Hamtaro cried exasperatedly, getting nothing but the rain and his own echo as an answer.

"…and she told me, that, she couldn't come back. Not now, at least."

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**Five years later**

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A young adult Ham-Human stood outside the gates she once called home. She grabbed one of the large iron posts as she sighed. All those memories she had here.

_All those memories she missed…_

Could anyone really understand the turmoil she went through? The past five years, she tried to rid her heart of all its happiness. In other words, she tried to rid her heart of him.

She took in the scent she could never forget: sakura flowers and rain, the sweet aroma of Japan.

She looked down the street at the curb she had left him at. To this day she remembered the way he pleaded to her. She had always wondered why he cared so much that she was leaving.

_It was friendship at most, she convinced herself._

Those years, spent in France, living away from her life and heart. All those years, convincing herself that love was highly overrated. Crying herself to sleep for how many months, she learned the heart is terrible at choosing.

"You're back."

She gasped. She wasn't expecting this, no, not at all. She had just returned home from the airport. She didn't even turn around to face the reason she left.

"Did you enjoy your vacation?" his voice sounded so bitter. Was he mad at her? He had no right to be.

She turned to face him. After five years, he had hardly changed. His eyes were the same shade of amethyst blue. His hair still parted in its orange and white swirl. He grew a few inches.

After all those years trying to collect herself, his stare still made her fall to pieces.

"Good day, Hamtaro-san," she squeaked. Did he notice that she wasn't so sad anymore?

It was then that she noticed Hamtaro had a small infant hiding behind his leg. The small girl, three years old at most, looked carefully at Bijou with one eye while the other eye remained hidden behind Hamtaro's leg.

"Hello," Bijou greeted the small girl. "Who might you be?"

But before Bijou got her reply, another voice called out to her.

"Bijou-chan!" Boss cried. He ran up to her after he had noticed her snowy-white head a block away. As he ran to her, he embraced her in a hug.

"Hello, Boss-kun," Bijou said slowly, smiling.

The little girl tugged at Hamtaro's pant leg. "Father, who is she?"

Bijou immediately looked up. He had a child. He was happy now.

"Just an old …friend, sweetie," Hamtaro replied gently.

Bijou released herself from Boss's embrace, trying not to notice the way Boss looked up at her nervously.

"You know," Bijou said softly, kneeling down to the girl's level, "you still haven't told me who you are."

"Bijou-" Hamtaro started to say, but was cut off by the small girl.

"I was named after the only woman my father ever loved!" the girl exclaimed proudly, coming out from behind Hamtaro.

"Oh, really?" Bijou asked quietly. Suddenly she didn't want to know her name.

"Yeah," the little child chirped. "My name's Bijou!"

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There may be more chapters, if I get good feedback.


	2. Boss

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**Boss**

"Boss-kun, there's something you should know," she spoke softly as soon as he entered her front lawn. He hadn't even said "Hey" before she started speaking, her voice barely over a whisper.

Boss tentatively approached her. "You can tell me anything, Bijou-chan," he reassured. A small smile spread across her pale lips. She rocked her swing slightly, listening to the night's breeze before she responded.

"If you're sure, Boss-kun…"

"Anything, Bijou-chan! You needn't keep anything from me!"

She stopped her swing and looked at him with sharp, emerald eyes. "I know how much you care for me, Boss-kun, and that it is not friendship you look for with me."

Boss felt the breath get sucked out of him. Subconsciously, his eyes widened and sweat started beading up all around his body. Panicked thoughts raced through his brain: _How did she know? Does she love me back? _

However, before he could possibly go into a further state of hyperventilation, Bijou stood up and came to Boss. She put both her hands on his shoulders, telling him to soothe himself.

"…Truly, Boss-kun, I believe that you can have any girl you desire! You're a wonderful Ham-Human! You are independent, you're funny, witty…Do you see what I'm getting at?"

Boss, numb at her touch, nodded very slowly.

"…However…"

He should have been expecting this. Why wasn't he surprised that she would say this?

_An orange and white image flashed through his mind as she said the last word…_

"My heart…That is to say, I lo--I …care for…someone else," she stammered. Boss could see how much she was restraining the tears.

"It's Hamtaro, isn't it, Bijou-chan?" Boss snorted. Bijou let go of him and turned away, nodding her head.

"Was it that obvious?"

Boss gave no answer to this. He just looked at the night sky, the trees, the grass, anything but her, with disgust on his face. Bijou sat back down on her swing.

"I…am glad you figured out it was Hamtaro-san," she said softly. "It's because of him I am talking to you right now."

Boss looked worriedly at her. "What did he do? Did he say something to you, Bijou-chan?" he asked, fists clenched.

"Boss-kun…please, just let me finish?" Her voice was a meek plea. Boss's anger was instantly replaced by apprehension.

"Ok then…this isn't easy to say…" She looked at him carefully before continuing. "He doesn't take my words seriously. I told him, several times, about my feelings, but he counters with how he loves all his friends, too, and sometimes I wonder whether he can be _that_ naïve, or if he is really ignoring what I have to say."

"It couldn't be that he's ignoring, you, Bijou-chan…"

"But if he really did have any feelings towards me, he'd do something, say something, _anything_ that say to me he and I are more than just friends. And Boss-kun, you don't know how much I care for him…how much I love him…"

"Bijou-chan, what are you saying?"

"I'm leaving, Boss-kun," she blurted out. She put her hands on her mouth, but the words had already been spoken. She looked at him apologetically, but he just stared at her in disbelief.

"Bijou-chan, surely he can't cause you so much pain!"

"Boss-kun, I thought you would understand."

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He couldn't get any sleep that night, and how could he?

_I'm leaving, Boss-kun…_

_I'm leaving…_

_Leaving…_

Was it really possible to care for someone that much? Did it really hurt her so much every time she saw Hamtaro and knew that he could never return her feelings? Could love truly be that strong?

He kept his hands clasped under his head as he lay on his bed and stared up at his ceiling. How could he rest knowing that Bijou was packing her bags at the moment?

He kept mumbling curses at Hamtaro. His naïveté was cute sometimes, but it was no excuse to continually misjudge Bijou's feelings…

Before he knew it, his alarm clock started buzzing. He felt his weight drop to the pits of his stomach.

Today was one day he knew Bijou was definitely not going to be on the bus today.

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It was raining, but his thoughts were too anxious to care. At his mother's urging, he threw an umbrella into his backpack incase the rain got severe.

As he walked past her house, he stopped short, seeing her soaking in the rain. To any passer-by, she would've looked normal: she donned her blue and white school uniform and all she had as any means of luggage was a backpack around her shoulder. She kept her head down, letting herself be overcome by the pouring water.

"Bijou-chan," Boss breathed as he saw her standing there, an air of melancholy surrounding her.

She looked up, as if surprised to see him there. "Konichiwa, Boss-kun," she spoke at long last.

"I have an umbrella in my bag if you'd like one," he explained, but she shook her head.

"I…want to feel the rain, since it will be my last rainstorm in Japan."

The heavy feeling in Boss's stomach returned immediately. "Where are you going?" unaware to him, his voice was a hoarse whisper.

She looked away from him and shrugged. "I'm going abroad, to northern France, I think. My family has a summer house there."

That explained why she wasn't bringing too much luggage.

"Didn't your parents wonder why you were leaving?"

"I told them I was having trouble with my schoolwork and that I would be more comfortable in France," she explained. "My ride should arrive in about twenty minutes or so."

Boss finally asked the question that the two of them had been hesitant to ask:

"So, Bijou-chan, is this goodbye?"

Bijou looked up at him, once again, her eyes startled. "Please don't say it like that, Boss-kun!"

But Boss shook his head, knowing her real answer to the question. He came closer to her, kissed her cheek, and ruffled her hair gently.

"Goodbye, Bijou-chan," he whispered. Bijou's eyes shook with tears, but all Boss could do was walk away, trying to make sure she wouldn't see his tears.

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"Hey, Boss-san!"

Boss didn't look up to see the source of that voice. How could he face Hamtaro today? Not now, not when Bijou was probably getting into a car and driving way from the two of them forever!

He could feel the weight of Hamtaro's stare, and he was about to ask what Hamtaro was staring at when Hamtaro spoke.

"You and Bijou-chan are strange. Aren't you getting wet from the rain?"

What? He saw Bijou today? Didn't he care about why she was crying, or why she looked so miserable?

This caused Boss to give Hamtaro a stare of utter revulsion.

"You saw her today?"

"Yeah. She's getting a ride to school today. That's why she's not with me."

How could he be so stupid? She wasn't getting a ride. He had to tell Hamtaro, before he found out when Bijou didn't chow up to school…

"Hamtaro," he was surprised at the way his voice sounded, "how can you be so foolish?"

"Boss-san?" His voice sounded sincerely….clueless. How could he not figure it out?

"She's not going to school, Hamtaro-san."

"Why?"

_Because of you!_ His mind repeated over and over again.

"She's leaving." There. He said it. He didn't care anyway. If Bijou's ride was on time, then she should left a few minutes ago.

"Bo--what!"

When Boss saw the confusion in Hamtaro's eyes, he knew that Hamtaro had some depth of care for Bijou, but Bijou needed more than just some depth.

"Hamtaro, she's leaving." He felt tears swell up his eyes. "And if I'm not mistaken, her ride should have picked her up five minutes ago."

And then Hamtaro became a racing, orange and white blur. He knew that Hamtaro would do this. He would do it for anyone.

But after a few moments of waiting, Boss forgot about the school bus and went to Bijou's house to pick up the mess Bijou left here in Japan.

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When Boss returned to the front of Bijou's house, he just saw him, standing there numbly. Was he upset? It was a little late now to show any care.

"She left, didn't she?" The look Hamtaro gave him in response was one Boss thought Hamtaro would never possess.

"Where did she go?"

Would Bijou want him to know? Probably now. So going against his better judgment, he lied.

"I don't know, Hamtaro-san-" but Hamtaro didn't let him finish speaking.

"LIAR! Tell me where she went NOW!"

Boss responded with yet another lie. "She didn't tell me, Hamtaro-san…"

Hamtaro, however, looked adamant. "I'll follow her. I have to. I'm the one to protect her. She needs me there. I have to be there for her."

"Hamtaro-san, don't act crazy."

"I HAVE TO FOLLOW HER! BIJOU! WAIT! I'LL FIND YOU, WAIT!"

Why was Hamtaro acting like he cared all of a sudden when all he did was not take Bijou seriously?

"I'LL FOLLOW YOU, BIJOU! JUST PLEASE, WAIT!"

Boss had to stop this. "Hamtaro-san, she left because of you."

Hamtaro's screams ceased immediately. Hamtaro's cold glare sent shivers all over Boss's body.

"What did you just say?"

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**Five years later**

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Could it be?

The past five years, never forgetting the night Bijou told him everything. Never forgetting the memory of her soaked body, telling him how she wanted to feel her last rainstorm in Japan.

Everyday, he thought of her. He thought of her when he told all their other friends where Bijou really was after days without seeing their French friend. He thought of her every time he went on a swing. He thought of her every time he saw someone cry. He thought of her in his dreams. He thought of her every time it rained.

Where she had been for the past half decade, no one knew. She hadn't sent word to any of the Ham-Humans. All they knew was that she was in northern France. What else did she tell them?

But now, he saw a Ham-Human standing before her old house. This Ham-Human had hair so remarkably snow like, so pure and white, that he recognized at first glance.

He sprinted like a rabbit to her figure, and he didn't even care that Hamtaro was there. All he saw was Bijou.

Bijou.

Bijou.

As he approached her, he couldn't help but notice that there was some color back in her cheeks. Her hair had grown a few inches. She stood with dignity. She wasn't the lonesome Ham-Human she left as.

"Bijou-chan!" he felt his heart pound against his ribs with excitement. As soon as he got near enough, he engulfed her in his hug. She even smelled the same.

"Hello, Boss-kun." Was that a smile on her face? He had forgotten how beautiful she looked when she smiled.

But the moment was interrupted when little Bijou addressed Hamtaro. "Father, who is she?"

To this, Boss looked up at Bijou nervously. She couldn't handle not having Hamtaro love her back, so how was she supposed to survive this?

"Just an old…friend, sweetie."

Friend? Boss learned over the past five years how much Hamtaro really considered Bijou a 'friend'.

Boss felt Bijou break away from him. She kneeled down to the little girl's level.

"You know, you still haven't told me who you are."

"Bijou-" Hamtaro tried to cut her off, before Bijou could learn the name of the child.

"I was named after the only woman my father ever loved!" Little Bijou looked so proud of her name, but Hamtaro wasn't sure if Bijou was ready to hear the name just yet.

"Oh, really?" Bijou's voice suddenly became so meek.

"Yeah, my name's Bijou!"

The two male Ham-Humans watched Adult Bijou's face go from sullen to surprised to realization and then to apathy in the span of a few seconds. That Bijou was always a smart girl.

She stood up, refusing to look at Hamtaro while Hamtaro glanced nervously from little Bijou to the adult one.

"But who are you, ma'am?" little Bijou asked as Bijou turned her back to the father and daughter. "Are you a friend of my father and Uncle Boss?" she asked, trying to get any sort of response out of the new adult.

For such a small girl, the little Bijou was incredibly persistent. Just like her father, now that Bijou thought about it.

"Boss-san, please take my daughter back to the clubhouse," Hamtaro said.

Although Boss thought against it, he nodded anyway. But little Bijou backed away when Boss came near her and she instead went closer to the adult Bijou.

"Uncle Boss called you Bijou!" the little girl exclaimed. "Are you Bijou?"

Bijou gave no answer to this. Boss tried to take little Bijou away, but she incessantly backed away from him.

"Hair as white as snow and green eyes that sparkle like dew drops on grass!" the little girl exclaimed as she got a good look at the Adult Bijou.

"You're the girl daddy talks about! You are Bijou!"

Bijou bit her lip and tried to remain as quiet as she could.

"Bijou," Hamtaro said sternly, "go with your uncle now-"

"-but daddy! This is the girl you love!"

But the Adult Bijou's response to this was to scream, "No I am NOT!" and then she ran away.

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I do not own Hamtaro.


	3. Hamtaro

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**Hamtaro**

His first instinct upon seeing her standing there, soaking miserably, was to run over to her and guard her from the relentless rain with his umbrella.

Even though it was raining, just seeing her naturally formed a smile on his face.

"Good morning, Bijou-chan!" Today, he thought, would be a day unlike any other.

….He wasn't wrong….

Bijou didn't really answer him. She just sort of nodded her head.

Hamtaro continued to speak, "Aren't you annoyed by the rain?"

His voice seemed to break the deafening silence that came with the thrashing rain. When he placed his orange umbrella over her head, she looked up, seeming confused for a split-second, as she walked out from under it.

"Hamtaro-san, my ride will be here any minute."

Hamtaro wondered why she chose to be hit by the rain than stay under the protection of his umbrella. Nevertheless, asked, rather absentmindedly:

"Ride? So you won't be taking the bus to school today?" He stepped up to her and once again placed his umbrella over her head.

Bijou stepped away from him and his umbrella again. "No, Hamtaro-san, I won't be taking the bus to school today," she said, rather quietly.

Hamtaro watched her figure, rain pelting her. Why was she so determined to stay away from him? Was she mad at him? No…it couldn't be…Hamtaro always treated her with such respect. She couldn't have had a reason to be mad at him…

"I'll see you later, Bijou-chan," he said finally, starting to walk away. Maybe he'd get a chance to ask her at school about what was wrong. Until then, Hamtaro decided it was best to leave her alone.

As he walked away, he could've sworn he heard Bijou say something. However, he didn't turn around to ask what she just said…

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"Yeah. She's getting a ride to school today," Hamtaro explained, looking at Boss skeptically. Boss seemed tense today, too. Not unlike Bijou. Regardless, Hamtaro kept speaking, "That's why she's not with me."

"Hamtaro, how can you be so foolish?"

The voice Boss used…it was so unfamiliar to Hamtaro. What was going on? Did he miss something? For a moment, Hamtaro thought the whole world had some sort of conspiracy against him.

"Boss-san?" Hamtaro's voice sounded so lost. He was about to ask Boss more when Boss started to talk.

"She's not going to school, Hamtaro-san."

"Bo--what!"

This last phrase scared Hamtaro. Bijou was not going to school? Then where was she going?

_Her ride_, he thought, panicking.

"Hamtaro, she's leaving," Boss said sullenly. Hamtaro had never seen his friend look so upset.

Wait…Boss just said 'leaving'? More panicky thoughts started to fill Hamtaro's mind.

"And if I'm not mistaken, her ride should have picked her up five minutes ago."

Hamtaro didn't wish to hear anymore. Instead, he threw his umbrella aside and ran as fast as he could towards Bijou's house.

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When he saw her, still standing there, he started thanking the heavens for his luck. He didn't waste any time. He sprinted up to her, and she looked up in surprise.

"Bijou-chan! Wh--What is all of this!" He suddenly found the ability to talk was leaving him.

"Nothing," she squeaked, obviously trying to get a steady hold of her voice. Her bangs pressed against her forehead, looking like precious silver threads. But with the bangs moved, he got a good look at her eyes.

They looked so depressed; she had obviously been crying. And she was crying, at that moment. The tears were pouring freely from her emerald orbs.

"Where are you going?" He did not like the way this situation scared him. Unbeknownst to him, his voice was angry. He hated feeling scared.

"Why do you care?" she asked indignantly as her eyes instinctively lowered.

How could she ask such a question! And why was she avoiding the answer to his?

"Because you're my friend!" And that was the first thing that came to his mind.

"And yet you never take me seriously!" She moaned as more tears broke from her eyes. Hamtaro immediately released his hold on her, like Bijou's touch burned him.

"…What…?"

He couldn't think of anything better to ask. Again, how could she ask such a thing! He took every miniscule thing she did with great severity. He had no idea how much every look she gave, every smile that beamed from her lips, every laugh she laughed affected him! Where was all of this coming from?

"Bijou-chan, there's something I have to tell you," he spoke uneasily. There was something she had to hear now, and if it stopped her from leaving, even for a millisecond, she had to hear it. He tried to reach out to her, but she immediately slapped his hand away. Hamtaro, at this point, was too numb to feel it, though.

"Don't touch me!"

Hamtaro felt his breathing go shallow when he saw the sharp, furious look that was present in Bijou's eyes. He never dreamed, not even in his worst nightmares, that she would ever stare at him so. Nor had he ever dreamed that he would ever feel such pain.

"Please, Bijou-chan, there's something you should know!" If she just let him speak…

"But I don't want to hear it, Hamtaro-san, please-"

"Just let me tell you!" Hamtaro knew that what he had to say was important, at least to him.

"No! Leave me alone like you have for the past few years!"

Hamtaro, too distracted with apprehension, didn't take in what she just said. It was probably for the better, because if he ever heard Bijou say that…the confusion would have driven him mad.

"Why are you leaving?" He wasn't going to rest until he got a straight answer from her.

"That's not important."

Of course it was! He wished he could take her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright, that no one was ever going to hurt her again. He wanted to rip that anger out of her eyes.

"You didn't even tell us that you were going somewhere…" he didn't even hear the cracks in his own voice. When Bijou saw that tear, that streak of water different from the thousands of raindrops attacking his face every minute, she couldn't look at him.

"This, she choked out, looking downwards, "this decision wasn't planned…"

"Then why did Boss know?" Since when could Bijou share something with Boss but not tell him? And why was she acting so strangely towards him?

A black car seemed to slither down the street. It pulled up directly adjacent to where Bijou was standing. Hamtaro felt himself going tense again. Hoping against hope, he secretly prayed that this wasn't her ride.

"Because someone had to tell you why…Hamtaro-san." He hated the way she said his name in disgust. She was getting into the car, much to his dismay. He had no choice. He immediately grabbed her arm and brought it up to his chest so that she couldn't breakaway.

"You have to hear what I have to say!" Why wasn't she letting him speak?

Bijou's next reaction surprised the two of them. She let go of the car door handle. She brought her hand up to his face so quickly, tearing through the rain. Hamtaro prepared to get slapped, however, she touched his cheek. Hamtaro opened his eyes and saw her eyes shake with sadness.

"No…No…_No_."

She looked so unhappy, and Hamtaro wanted to change that, but how could he when she was resisting him so?

She pulled away from him and started to get into the car.

"Bijou, _please_!"

She stepped into the car and slammed the door behind her. Hamtaro felt sick. He thought he would faint, especially when he saw the car start to drive away.

Time seemed to move so swiftly. He felt as if Bijou's car had just left before Boss came up to Hamtaro.

"She left, didn't she?"

Of course she left! Hamtaro had never felt so angry in his entire life. He turned to Boss with a look of intense fury in his eyes.

"Where did she go?"

-

-

**Five years later**

**-**

-

Nobody would ever understand the pain he went through that day. Nobody understood why he sat in the back of class, wiping his face with his sleeve every so often. Nobody understood why he didn't leave his house that weekend. And nobody ever understood why he didn't use an umbrella on a rainy day.

He never stopped thinking about her. She was his thoughts waking up and she was his thoughts when he went to sleep. She was everything to him. He could never stop thinking about her.

He tried to regain his composure. Really, he did. He started to smile again after a few weeks. He started to joke again. Everyone thought that he had gotten over her. That was the biggest misunderstanding one could ever have.

He promised to take Little Bijou to the park that day. He always took the route that went past Bijou's house. Every time he stared out at it. He could still remember the way she smelled, the way she looked, the way she cried. She was only sixteen! She had her whole life ahead of her, and yet she left as if she had nothing to live for anymore!

But today, today was different. As he crossed the street. He never expected to see _her_. At first, he didn't believe it was her. He thought it was a passer-by with snowy white hair that parted in two, navy blue ribbons.

But he knew better.

He kept Little Bijou close to his side.

He approached her from behind, careful not to give away the fact that he was there. She was staring fondly at her old house, which was abandoned after a few months when her parents had decided to move back to France to be with their daughter.

He wanted to take her in his arms again. He wanted to look at her, the beautiful young woman that she had become. However, something in his heart made him speak to her in a low voice.

"You're back." He paused for a minute. "Did you enjoy your vacation?"

She gasped. But after a few seconds of collecting herself, she was able to look at him.

"Good day, Hamtaro-san," she spoke, smiling at him. She didn't look so sad anymore. At that moment, Bijou noticed Little Bijou who was standing behind her father's leg.

"Hello, who might you be?" she asked Little Bijou. However, Hamtaro did not want Bijou to hear the answer to that question.

Thankfully, a voice interrupted the moment.

"Bijou-chan!" Boss cried, running up to her and smothering Bijou in a hug. Hamtaro felt Little Bijou look up at her uncle.

Hamtaro tried to ignore the small bits of jealousy that were still present in his heart when Boss hugged Bijou.

"Hello, Boss-kun," she answered finally, a brighter smile forming across her face.

Little Bijou pulled on Hamtaro's pants. "Father, who is she?"

Hamtaro did not want to see Bijou's reaction to the word "father", so instead, he thought of a decent answer to the question. "Just an old…friend, sweetie."

Bijou broke away from Boss. "You know," Bijou said softly, kneeling down to the girl's level, "you still haven't told me who you are."

"Bijou-" Hamtaro tried to explain before he got interrupted again.

"I was named after the only woman my father ever loved!" Now, Hamtaro knew he couldn't let this go on. He heard Bijou ask. "Oh, really?" meekly, but what feared him the most was what his daughter answered next.

"Yeah, my name's Bijou!"

There. It had been revealed. Hamtaro felt exposed, as if his one barrier had been ripped, all by a small, three-year-old girl. He did not want to look at Bijou and see her reaction to such news, but instinctively, he looked at her.

She looked surprised, but her expression eventually became indifferent to the situation. She stood up and Hamtaro noticed she was reufsing to look at him. However, Hamtaro looked at his daughter then flanced up at the adult Bijou nervously. He repeated this until Little Bijou started speaking again.

"But who are you, ma'am?" Little Bijou asked as Bijou turned her back to the father and daughter. "Are you a friend of my father and Uncle Boss?" she asked, trying to get any sort of response out of the new adult.

Hamtaro had to stop this. "Boss-san, please take my daughter back to the clubhouse," he said. However, when Boss tried to come near Little Bijou, she backed away and stared at the adult bijou.

"Uncle Boss called you Bijou!" the little girl exclaimed. "Are you Bijou?"

Bijou did not answer this. Little Bijou kept backing away from Boss.

"Hair as white as snow and green eyes that sparkle like dew drops on grass!" Little Bijou exclaimed. That was the description Hamtaro had always described Bijou with.

"You're the girl daddy talks about! You are Bijou!" His daughter, though young, was extremely smart for her age.

Bijou remained absolutely silent.

"Bijou," Hamtaro said sternly, "go with your uncle now-"

"-but daddy! This is the girl you love!"

Bijou's response to all of this was screaming, "No I am NOT!" and then she ran away.

"Bijou!" Hamtaro cried, watching her figure runaway from him.

"What, father?" Little Bijou asked.

Hamtaro shook his head in frustration while Boss asked, "Should I still take her back to the clubhouse?"

"No, I'll deal with Little Bijou ," Hamtaro answered. "But go back to the clubhouse. Tell the others about Bijou's return. I want them to search for her incase she ran away from us, again."

Boss nodded and then he went off.

"Father?" Little Bijou's voice called after a few moments. She looked afraid, as if she had upset her father.

Hamtaro looked down at her and smiled at her to show that he wasn't mad.

"Did you ever love my mother, the woman who gave birth to me?"

Hamtaro looked shocked. He wasn't expecting a question like this from her.

"Mother said you only married her to-"

"-Bijou, you have to understand. There's more to the story than that. Try to understand--"

"I think I understand you perfectly," She said it as a statement. And then there was silence.

"Father, I saw you cry once," she explained. To this, Hamtaro leaned down to his daughter's level. The Little Bijou took this as a sign to go on. "It--it wasn't like you were sobbing. But I heard you snivel, and you had a few--only a few--tears come out of our eyes…and I think that that's a type of crying, right daddy?"

Hamtaro nodded.

"And I think Uncle Boss cried, too. I saw him. Mother told me it was over the same girl. The same girl made the two of you cry. Then mother told me that real men cry…"

"…!"

"Father, I think you're the best father a girl could ever have! Mother told me about the great things you did. And I feel so proud that I was named after the only girl the great Hamtaro ever loved! You named me beautifully and I adore my name! Thank you!"

"Bijou," he closed his eyes and felt tears on his face. He opened his eyes again. "I…cared about your mother…"

"I know you did…"

He raised his eyebrows. He had a feeling his daughter wasn't done speaking. She smiled at him a one-in-a-million smile.

"And I know that you weren't really my father."

-

-

-

-

-

_Ahh…yes…we dreamed a melody once_

_This perfect song of you and me…_

_And the world seemed so womderful, until_

_You decided to be…someone else_

_The view got hazy_

_The song stopped_

_The dream never happened_

_You came back_

_Why?_

_Chuujitsu? Is that what you had for me?_

_You went_

_I went_

_She came_

_She left_

_They watched_

_We saw_

_They felt_

_We lost_

_They read_

_We witnessed_

_This love was supposed to be perfect_

_But what is the point of love_

_We had a tale_

_A pleasant story_

_You and I were the magic_

_But there was no point_

_There will no happy ending_

_In a story_

_Where there was never a beginning to start with_

-

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-

-

-

I do not own Hamtaro.


	4. Bijou, Boss and Hamtaro

-

-

-

-

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**Bijou**

Hamtaro couldn't speak. "Bijou, how did you…? Did anyone tell you? Your mother?"

"No one told me, father," she declared proudly.

Hamtaro frowned, "Don't lie to me. Who told you?"

She was still smiling. "I figured it out. Mother said it was because I was so smart."

"You _are_ smart," Hamtaro agreed, feeling a sense of relief for some strange reason. "But I don't understand how you figured it out."

"You have blue eyes…mine are brown. Mother doesn't have brown eyes either."

"That doesn't mean you aren't my daughter."

"But I asked mother!" she paused, feeling slightly scared. "…when I realized nothing between us matched. My eyes, my hair…mines aren't like mother's and they aren't like yours. Are you mad, father?"

"Of course not." Hamtaro felt a smile tug on his lips, but that smile immediately left. "Did she tell you anything about your real father?"

"I tried, but she started crying…" The little girl trailed off. "She didn't want to tell me about you, I could tell that much. I asked her a lot, and then she finally told me during your anniversary party. Her eyes were watery…but she was happy. It was very strange. Father, do you anything about my real father?"

Hamtaro remained silent but continued staring at the girl.

"It doesn't matter if you don't, father." however, the girl's expression showed otherwise.

"I'm sorry I didn't--we didn't--…-were you upset?" Hamtaro asked tentatively.

The girl pondered for a moment, staring at her feet. "I…" she seemed unsure, and suddenly, "no…" She gathered her thoughts, "When she told me why you married her and how you took care of me when I came, treated me as your own…I couldn't feel sad. And then she told me how you named me after 'Bijou'! She told me what a precious name it was to you. She told me to respect what you did because you did it all for me: 'Hamtaro-san gave us so much! I'm forever within his debt!'"

Hamtaro kissed his daughter's chestnut brown hair. "Let's go back to the clubhouse, sweetie."

-

-

-

-

-

"_Please, Hamtaro-san. I cannot ask so much of you."_

"…"

"_You needn't help me. I can make do," She lied. Hamtaro knew very well she wasn't telling the truth._

"_The baby will need a father."_

_The woman paused… She spoke only two words, "Bijou-chan."_

_Hamtaro looked up, surprised. Why did she bring her up?_

"_It's lovely, ne?" Hamtaro asked, staring straight at the woman. "If it's a girl, I think that will make a fine name."_

"_You'll never stop waiting for her, will you?"_

"_Nope. I don't see how I can."_

_The girl came closer to Hamtaro. "Well then, I guess I'll wait with you."_

-

-

-

-

-

Bijou pressed herself against the cherry blossom. She placed her hand over her heart, feeling that its beating was becoming slowly yet surely more steady.

Her heart ached so badly when she heard the little girl's name, and the reasoning behind the name, that she feared she could not control it from jumping out of her chest.

"_Are you Bijou?"_

"There's another Bijou," she told herself. "It's not a terribly uncommon name."

Stop lying.

"_I was named after the only woman my father ever loved!"_

She had to bite her lip to keep from crying her unshed tears.

_No! _She thought, panicking. _I tried for five years…_five _years. She's so small…I can't let her words ruin what I worked so hard for. I forgot him. He's nothing more than a memory to me. He is! There's nothing in my heart for him anymore. The moment I slammed the car door in his face, I gave up._

Haha. You'll continue with the lying, then?

Liar.

Liar.

Liar.

She shut her eyes, but her mind taunted her, _Liar. Liar. Liar-_

_No! It's true!_

"Where are you going?"

Liar. Liar. Liar.

_Stop it! I'm not lying! STOP IT!_

"Bijou-chan, there's something I have to tell you."

She opened her eyes. "There must be someone else with that name." _I can't be the only girl entitled to such a name?_

In Japan? A girl with a French name?

_You're so stupid, Bijou._

"The heart cannot choose. The heart cannot choose. The heart cannot choose."

_No…the heart has nothing to do with choosing. I chose. I picked him. _I _loved him. The only thing the heart did was break when his love was unreciprocated._

It broke you.

_It was devastating._

She was so tired from the plane ride back.

_Why did I come back?_

You couldn't stay away.

_Every second I spent away from him was a blessing-_

Every second was a punishment for your heart!

The breezes were so soft. Her eyes couldn't help but feel relaxed in the setting. She did always love the smell of Japan.

"Why are you leaving?"

"_...stop…asking…"_

"Just let me tell you!"

"_I…don't…want to know. Stop…please, stop." _Her eyes gave in slowly to the power of sleep.

"Bijou-chan! What is all of this!"

"_I want to sleep…" _She could feel her eyelids get heavier.

"You have to hear what I have to say!"

"…_stop," _she said, already asleep.

"Please, Bijou-chan, there's something you should know!"

"_No…let me sleep…I…sleep…"_

"Bijou-chan, there's something I have to tell you."

"…_no…"_

_Let me sleep. Let me dream. _Her body fell over.

"Where are you going?"

_To sleep._

"_I…don't…forget…" _she mumbled. "_Don't forget him."_

_I never did._

"This is the girl you love!"

_No, I'm not._

"Are you Bijou?"

"_Yes!" _Her sleeping body exclaimed.

"The only woman my father ever loved!"

"Bijou-chan…"

_I never forgot you, Hamtaro-san._

_Never._

As she slept, a single tear fell from her eye.

-

-

-

-

-

"Where is everybody?" Boss asked, noticing the abandoned clubhouse.

"Where should they be, Boss-kun?" Sandy, the only other occupant in the room responded. She got up from the table she was sitting at and approached Boss.

"Boss-kun, is everything alright?" Her eyebrows were raised.

Boss smiled a smile he hadn't smiled in five years. "Yes! I mean, no. Well, sorta…Bijou."

"Is everything alright with Little Bijou?" Sandy asked apprehensively. She placed a hand on her mouth. "Please, Boss-kun, I can't stand the suspense."

Boss shook his head. "Not _Little _Bijou."

Sandy gasped. "No…you're joking!"

Boss shook his head again. "She's back!"

"Where is she!" It wasn't a question; it was more like an angry declaration of Bijou's lack of presence.

Boss shrugged. "She ran off when Little Bijou claimed Hamtaro loved her-"

"Hamtaro-san saw her?" Her eyes went wide. Boss nodded sadly. Sandy clenched her fists. "She caused him so much pain and…" She looked up at Boss, "she did the same to you!"

"I told you her reasons! You should've seen her the night before she left."

"Her feelings were nothing compared to what all of us went through," Sandy reminded. "I thought there was no hope for you and Hamtaro-san." The Ham-Human started pacing around the room.

It was while she was pacing that the door to the clubhouse opened, revealing Hamtaro and Little Bijou. Hamtaro looked at Boss, asking him, without using words, if he had told Sandy. Boss nodded.

"I'll go track down the rest of the Ham-Humans to tell them the news," Boss said, brushing past Hamtaro and Little Bijou on his way out.

"Thanks, Boss-san," Hamtaro mumbled.

"No problem, Hamtaro."

Little Bijou entered the clubhouse and, after greeting Sandy, ran into a corner where her toys were kept and started to play with a small doll.

Hamtaro sat down at the table and ran a hand through his orange and white hair. Sandy sat down beside him. Little Bijou noticed that the two adults were acting very strangely. She went over to her father.

"Father, is everything alright?"

Hamtaro looked around the room and noticed that Sandy was the only other adult Ham-Human in it. He, going against his better judgment, shook his head. _This wasn't the person he needed to talk to at the moment._ "I have to tell your mother something."

Little Bijou nodded her head and went back to playing with her toys. Sandy, making sure the little girl wasn't paying attention to them, whispered, "She's back?"

Hamtaro, still frustrated, turned and looked at Sandy.

"It seems your daughter finally met her namesake."

-

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AN: Thanks for making this story so much fun to write! I appreciate all the support I receive from you guys!

I'm actually adding this author's note to ask whom do you, the readers, believe the next chapter should revolve around? I could continue with the pattern and go Bijou, Boss and Hamtaro, or I could do someone completely new? If you guys tell me who you want, I'll do their chapter.

The story's only just begun.


	5. Little Bijou and Bijou

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**-**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Little Bijou**

All her life she had been called "Little" Bijou. She had no idea why, for she didn't know a "Big" Bijou for her to be compared to.

In school, the kids would ask her, "What kind of name is Bijou?" It sounded foreign to them, and even the teacher commented that it was a rather unique name for a Japanese girl. But that didn't matter. Her mother had once told her that she should be proud of the name Bijou and that was that.

Still, she made it her life's goal (keep in mind, she was two at the time) to figure out who this "Big" Bijou was and, if she was important enough to have a kid named after her, where did she go?

It was a few months later at her parents third anniversary party that Little Bijou found out, but that wasn't the only thing she was told.

Hamtaro held Little Bijou in his arms as he, Sandy and Little Bijou blew out the three candles on the cake. The crowd cheered for the couple and the little girl, who was a few months shy of her third birthday at the time.

Hamtaro put Little Bijou down as the other adults--Uncle Boss, Uncle Stan, Aunt Pashy, Uncle Cappy, Aunt Penny, Uncle Oxnard, Uncle Dexter, Uncle Howdy, and Uncle Panda--started to congratulate Hamtaro and Sandy and talk with them.

Little Bijou got bored when the adults started talking, so she looked excitedly at the cake with its frosted flowers and creamy, fondant icing with a vicious stare like any infant would. However, before she had a chance to run up to the cake (not that she could've reached it since the cake's table was taller than the girl itself), her mother picked her up and took her outside the party hall and into the lobby.

"Mother! The cake! They're gonna eat it all and I won't get a piece!" she whined as her mother sat her on a chair. But then, Bijou got a good look at her mother. Her mother was not smiling like she should have been at an event like this, rather, Little Bijou could clearly make out the tears going down her face.

"Mother," Little Bijou said softly, "what's wrong? Shouldn't you be happy that you and father have been together for three years? And you _should _stop crying because you'll get water all over your new party dress!"

Sandy got up from the chair and started to pace around the ornate lobby.

She looked through the glass doors that led from the lobby to the main party hall and saw Hamtaro through them, smiling and talking with their other friends. She then went back to the chair that Little Bijou was sitting on and kneeled before her daughter.

"Sweetie, I _am_ happy. These tears are of joy, I promise you," she said as she sniffled. She ran a finger through her hair which was done up in a fancy bun, with a few curled strands hanging around her shoulders, for the party. As she twiddled with a lock of her curled hair, she shook her head slightly.

"You're so smart," Sandy told the girl. "So unbelievably smart. You're able to piece together the pieces so wonderfully and at such a young age! You have no idea how proud you make me," she said quietly as more tears started to fall from her eyes.

"But despite all that, I don't know whether or not you'll remember the things I'm about to tell you…"

"I'll remember, mother!" the little girl exclaimed proudly.

Sandy smiled through her tears and started to caress her daughter's cheeks. "I know you've asked me and Hamtaro-san before about this, and it's time I tell you…You're _my_ daughter…The shape of your eyes, the way you love to dance, your smile…That's from me," Sandy explained.

"What do I get from father?" the child asked.

Sandy shook her head again. "You don't get anything from father…"

"Why not?"

"…Because…"

"Because why?"

"Because," Sandy paused, "although he loves you more than any _real_ father could love his daughter…"

"He's _not_ my real father," the little girl said softly. Sandy nodded and then hugged her daughter.

"You have to understand! He loves you so much, and he helped me--us--so much. He overcame his problems and gave me help in the time that I needed him the most. Hamtaro-san gave us so much! I'm forever within his debt!"

Little Bijou remained silent as she thought. Her father never treated her like anything but a princess…He was kind, funny, sometimes stern if she ever misbehaved, but nevertheless incredibly sweet to her. As far as she was concerned, Hamtaro was her father and she loved him to death.

"But Bijou," Sandy said as she pulled away from the hug and stared at her daughter. "You mustn't tell your father that I told you this, ok?"

Little Bijou didn't know why her mother was asking her this, but she nodded her head anyway.

"Who _was_ my real father, mother?"

To this, more tears started to come out of Sandy's eyes, even though she tried to wipe them away. It stayed silent for a minute before her mother spoke again.

"And Bijou?"

"Yes, mother?"

"Your name…Your father gave you that name…"

"Was there a Big Bijou before me?" Little Bijou asked.

"Yes," Sandy explained. "She had hair that was just as white as snow and big, beautiful green eyes."

"She sounds like the princess father describes in my bedtime story!"

"That's because she _is_ a princess to your father…or rather, she _was_…"

"Who was she?" Little Bijou asked.

"Remember how you saw Uncle Boss and your father crying a few days ago? They'll never admit it, but they were mourning since it was the fifth anniversary of her leaving…Real men cry when they care for something and it's gone."

"She was important to them?"

"Yes." Sandy leaned into her daughter's face. "The only woman your father ever loved."

-

-

It had all started out like a normal day. Hamtaro had promised his daughter that he would take her to the park since he did not have to go to work today.

It had been a few months since the anniversary part where Sandy told Little Bijou about Hamtaro, but Little Bijou decided never to bring it up in front of her father…

…until…

They were passing by the "pretty house" as Little Bijou liked to call it. It was an old house that her father told her nobody lived in for over five years. Nobody (meaning her parents and all of her aunts and uncles) would like to go near the house, so Little Bijou had assumed it was haunted, although it was still pretty.

But today, there was a girl standing before the house, and this girl had made her father stop and look at her from across the street, even though he could only see her back since she was facing the house.

"Stay close to me," he whispered to Little Bijou as he started to cross the street and approach the girl.

This girl's hair was odd. It was white, and Little Bijou had never seen hair like hers before. She had a pretty, dark blue sundress with matching ribbons that tied her hair. Still, even though her fashion choices were nice, she was a stranger and Little Bijou watched her carefully from behind her father's leg.

"You're back." Little Bijou never heard her father speak in such an angry tone. "Did you enjoy your vacation?"

The white-haired girl gasped. But after a few seconds of collecting herself, she was able to look at him. When she turned around, Little Bijou had to admit that this girl was rather pretty.

"Good day, Hamtaro-san," she spoke, smiling at him. At that moment, the lady seemed to have noticed Little Bijou.

"Hello, who might you be?" she asked Little Bijou. But Hamtaro did not give Little Bijou a chance to answer.

A familiar voice called out.

"Bijou-chan!" Boss cried, running up to her and smothering Bijou in a hug. Little Bijou looked up at her uncle in confusion. Was he calling her? If he was, why was he hugging the new lady.

"Hello, Boss-kun," she answered finally, a brighter smile forming across her face.

Little Bijou pulled on Hamtaro's pants. "Father, who is she?"

"Just an old…friend, sweetie."

The lady broke away from Boss. "You know," Bijou said softly, kneeling down to the girl's level, "you still haven't told me who you are."

"Bijou-" Hamtaro tried to explain before he got interrupted again.

"I was named after the only woman my father ever loved!"

"Oh, really?" the lady asked.

"Yeah, my name's Bijou!"

The lady looked surprised, but her expression eventually became indifferent to the situation. She stood up.

"But who are you, ma'am?" Little Bijou asked as the lady turned her back to the father and daughter. "Are you a friend of my father and Uncle Boss?" she asked, trying to get any sort of response out of the new adult.

"Boss-san, please take my daughter back to the clubhouse," Hamtaro said. However, when Boss tried to come near Little Bijou, she backed away and stared at the adult girl.

"Uncle Boss called you Bijou!" the little girl exclaimed. "Are you Bijou?"

The white-haired lady did not answer this. Little Bijou kept backing away from Boss.

"Hair as white as snow and green eyes that sparkle like dew drops on grass!" Little Bijou exclaimed. That was the description Hamtaro had always described the princess from her bedtime story with, and according to Little Bijou's mother, that girl _was_ Bijou.

"You're the girl daddy talks about! You are Bijou!"

Big Bijou remained absolutely silent.

"Bijou," Hamtaro said sternly, "go with your uncle now-"

"-but daddy! This is the girl you love!"

Big Bijou's response to all of this was screaming, "No I am NOT!" and then she ran away.

"Bijou!" Hamtaro cried, watching her figure runaway from him.

"What, father?" Little Bijou asked.

Hamtaro shook his head in frustration while Boss asked, "Should I still take her back to the clubhouse?"

"No, I'll deal with Little Bijou ," Hamtaro answered. "But go back to the clubhouse. Tell the others about Bijou's return. I want them to search for her incase she ran away from us, again."

Boss nodded and then he went off.

"Father?" Little Bijou's voice called after a few moments. She looked afraid, as if she had upset her father.

Hamtaro looked down at her and smiled at her to show that he wasn't mad.

"Did you ever love my mother, the woman who gave birth to me?"

Hamtaro looked shocked. He wasn't expecting a question like this from her.

"Mother said you only married her to-"

"-Bijou, you have to understand. There's more to the story than that. Try to understand--"

"I think I understand you perfectly," She said it as a statement. And then there was silence.

"Father, I saw you cry once," she explained. To this, Hamtaro leaned down to his daughter's level. The Little Bijou took this as a sign to go on. "It--it wasn't like you were sobbing. But I heard you snivel, and you had a few--only a few--tears come out of our eyes…and I think that that's a type of crying, right daddy?"

Hamtaro nodded.

"And I think Uncle Boss cried, too. I saw him. Mother told me it was over the same girl. The same girl made the two of you cry. Then mother told me that real men cry…"

"…!"

"Father, I think you're the best father a girl could ever have! Mother told me about the great things you did. And I feel so proud that I was named after the only girl the great Hamtaro ever loved! You named me beautifully and I adore my name! Thank you!"

"Bijou," he closed his eyes and felt tears on his face. He opened his eyes again. "I…cared about your mother…"

"I know you did…"

He raised his eyebrows. He had a feeling his daughter wasn't done speaking. She smiled

at him a one-in-a-million smile.

"And I know that you weren't really my father."

And after that, Little Bijou had explained to her father exactly what her mother had told her at the anniversary party. Her father seemed slightly upset at first, but then he smiled and offered to take her back to the clubhouse, where they had dropped Sandy off this morning.

The passed Uncle Boss who was on the way out of the clubhouse when Hamtaro and Little Bijou went inside. Little Bijou ran up to Sandy and greeted her, then she ran into a corner where all her toys were kept and started playing with them. After a few minutes, she noticed that her mother and father were talking very quietly, but Little Bijou could still hear them anyway.

She went up to her father and asked: "Father, is everything alright?"

Her father looked around the room then said, "I have to tell your mother something."

So then, Little Bijou went back to playing with her toys. However, she still decided to listen in on what her parents were talking about.

"She's back?" her mother asked.

"It seems your daughter finally met her namesake," her father responded.

"Yeah," Little Bijou agreed, revealing that she was listening. "I met Big Bijou. Mother, she looks just as daddy described her," she explained, still playing with her toys.

"That's wonderful, sweetie," Sandy told the girl, although her voice didn't sound too happy. "Are you alright?" She asked Hamtaro.

"Yes, but I just wish I could have spoken with her some more."

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**Bijou**

Bijou's eyes started to flutter open after a couple of hours of sleeping under the cherry blossom. She slowly sat up and started to yawn when she realized that someone had been watching her.

"You're finally awake! When I first saw you, I couldn't believe it, but then I didn't wanna wake you, so I had to wait til you woke up! But here you are, awake, and not in France! This is sooooo exciting!"

Bijou was startled at first when she saw him, but a smile started to spread across her lips as she started to recognize him.

"Calm down, Panda, I might not be here much longer anyway, so there's nothing to get excited about," Bijou explained as Panda grabbed her hand and helped her to stand. (**AN: lol, that kinda rhymed**)

"You're not staying? But we all missed you so much," Panda explained, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"That's not how Hamtaro made it sound," Bijou said as she started to walk down the park's path.

"Oh…so you saw Hamtaro?" Panda asked tentatively as he came up to Bijou and started to walk with her.

"Yes, and I saw Boss, too, and," she paused and looked at Panda, "Little Bijou."

Panda said nothing. He could only imagine how Bijou was feeling…But surely Bijou wouldn't be so upset since she knew Little Bijou wasn't actually Hamtaro's…

"You don't know," Panda said to himself.

"Don't know what?" Bijou asked.

"Nothing! Say, have you eaten yet?" as a light flashed in his eyes.

Bijou shook her head. "I went straight from the airport to home, which is where I saw the others, and then I came here."

"Then you must be awfully hungry. Come on," Panda grabbed Bijou's hand and started running, "I know this amazing restaurant!"

Roughly twenty minutes later, Panda and Bijou were sitting in a small red booth at the end of this so-called "amazing" restaurant. So far, Bijou hadn't seen anything stellar about the place. It seemed like every other Japanese restaurant--actually, this place was like a diner with a counter, and booths, and waitresses moving along on roller blades--Bijou had remembered going to.

"What is this place?" Bijou asked Panda, who was sitting across from her.

"The most popular diner in town!" Panda exclaimed happily. "You'll love it here, I promise, and since you probably are still carrying French currency, I'll pay."

"Thanks, Panda," Bijou said, "for seeming so happy to see me. And just so you know, I missed you too."

"Really?"

"Yes," Bijou explained. "I still have that picture frame you gave me seventh grade. I kept it by my nightstand in France all these years."

Just as Bijou finished explaining this, two teens--a Ham-Human boy with a large, green hat, and a girl with a yellow dress on--both came up to the booth. They were both wearing aprons and were moving on roller blades. Bijou assumed that they worked here.

The boy, who seemed a year or two older than the girl, who looked around fifteen, started talking to Panda, completely oblivious to Bijou.

"Panda, you _have_ to tell the manager to stop making us wear these roller blades!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah," the girl chimed in, also not noticing Bijou, "have you ever tried to carry six sodas on a tray while wearing these things?" the girl asked, pointing to her shoes. "It's murder."

"Yeah, and we can't get through to the manager!"

Panda, who had remained quiet as the teens complained, looked from Bijou to the two younger Ham-Humans.

"Guys," Panda said to the boy and the girl, "do you not recognize her?" he asked, pointing to Bijou.

"Should we?" the teens asked in unison as they turned their vision toward her for the first time. But it didn't take more than one glance to recognize her.

Bijou had recognized them the moment that they first bladed over to the table, but she was so awestruck that she couldn't say anything. She quickly slid her messenger bag off of her shoulders and went outside the booth, staring at the two teens who looked just as surprised.

"Cappy! Penelope! Look how you've grown!" she cried, enveloping the two in a hug. "You were both just _kids_ when I left!" She started to look them up-and-down.

"You look so handsome," she told Cappy. "And you--oh, you're so pretty!" she told Penelope.

"Thanks," the two blushing teenagers said.

"But I can't believe it's you!" Cappy exclaimed. Suddenly, he didn't care so much about the roller blades.

Penelope nodded her head quickly. "We thought you'd _never_ come back."

The two teens couldn't help but smile as they hugged the white-haired girl, but their happy reunion was interrupted when…

"Cappy! Penelope! What are you two doing? There are people to serve!" a voice called out, causing Cappy and Penelope to part from Bijou.

"Our manager," Penelope introduced.

But as Bijou saw the girl, an even bigger smile was seen on her face.

"Pashmina!"

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**I do not own Hamtaro.**


	6. Boss and Hamtaro

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**Boss**

Boss had no idea where to start. His friends--meaning those he had to inform of Bijou's return--were dispersed all throughout town. There were so many places to go, so where to begin?

And so he pondered this question as he walked through the streets of the town.

But then, all of a sudden, the answer hit him: why not start with the place where a lot of his friends were gathered? And since he had already tried the clubhouse and had only found Sandy, the next logical place was

… the most popular diner in town.

-

Boss swung open the door to the diner, but it didn't take him long to find what he was looking for, or rather, _who_ he was looking for.

Bijou was hugging, or had been hugging, Penelope and Cappy, but as soon as she saw Pashmina, the diner's manager, she had let go.

"Pashmina!" Bijou cried happily, reaching out and trying to hug her best friend. However, when Bijou hugged Pashmina, Pashmina's body became stark still, the same expression her face had taken on ever since she had seen Bijou.

"Pashy-chan!" Penelope said angrily. "Aren't you happy that Bijou-chan has returned?"

This was exactly the question Bijou was asking to herself, and although Boss couldn't read her mind, he could tell by the way her emerald eyes shook that she was upset.

It was a bittersweet moment for Boss; she looked so beautiful when her eyes glistened with water, but then it caused his heart so weaken when he realized _why_ her eyes were glistening in the first place.

Bijou couldn't understand why this girl who was once her bet friend was acting so strangely with her. She immediately released Pashmina from her hug as Pashmina rolled her eyes.

Bijou walked away from Pashmina and Pashmina dusted herself off. Bijou sat back down in the booth and looked out the window, trying not to look at her once best friend.

"What would make me happy is if you two would do your jobs instead of socializing!" Pashmina scolded. Penelope and Cappy folded their hands over their chest, obviously in disapproval of how their manager was acting.

"I think I know people who will welcome their friend back," Panda, who had been quiet for a relatively long time, explained as he got out of the booth.

Boss, on the other hand, sat down in one of the booths, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible as he watched the scene unfold.

"Leave it, Panda-san, please," Bijou said under her breath as she saw Panda go to the counter of the diner.

"If it's any consolation, we're glad you're back," Cappy told Bijou, which was just infuriating Pashmina more.

"Didn't I tell you guys to go to work? Do I pay you to stand around and do nothing?" Pashmina cried.

"But there's like no other customers here, Pashy-chan," Penelope pointed out, staring at the row of empty booths (not noticing the one Boss had been ducking in).

"Then you two go in the back and wash some dishes, or no paycheck for the next two weeks," Pashmina ordered, causing the two teens to drop their heads and disappear behind the diner's counter, where Panda was ringing some sort of bell to get someone's attention. Bijou wondered why either Pashmina, Cappy or Penelope were not helping him or asking for whatever it was that he needed, but she let the matter go.

Once Cappy and Penelope had vanished behind the counter, Pashmina slid into the booth Bijou was sitting in. She grabbed Bijou's hand, and Bijou who had still been looking out that window, seemed startled.

"Bijou-chan," Pashmina said quietly as her eyes became softer. "Why did you come back?"

-

Boss was highly annoyed. From his vantage point of the booth, all he could see was Pashmina sitting down across from Bijou. He couldn't tell what they were saying, which was all the more infuriating.

But by the way Pashmina had reacted to Bijou coming back a few moments ago, he had a feeling that they were not discussing fashion.

Boss was worried. But then he was so happy. Why did this girl make him feel such ways?

He had this _thing_ that if anyone--even someone usually very sweet such as Pashmina--said anything to Bijou, he felt this primal urge to go and protect Bijou. She made him feel so happy, and he hadn't felt that happiness ever since she left. But now that she had returned, he wanted to take her--and the happiness she gave him--and return the happiness to her.

But unfortunately, there was only one person who Boss knew could put that light in Bijou's eyes, and it wasn't him.

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**Hamtaro**

Hamtaro sat at the clubhouse table. The same table that he had been sitting at when he was as small as his daughter. There was something about this place that made him always return.

_Just like there was something about her that always called him back._

Hamtaro tried for the billionth time that day to shake the thought of her from his mind.

He was being silly, and he knew it. He tried over and over again through the five years to erase her.

_That's never going to happen._

'I have a new life now…one that's had nothing to do with Bijou for five years,' he thought to himself.

_You can tell yourself that, but you know she's been with you all this time._

_In your heart._

In my heart.

"In my heart," Hamtaro said quietly to himself.

Why did he always feel so weak around her? Was it the same reason that he always felt so strong around her, as well?

Was the answer also the reason why he wanted to hold her forever and keep her smiling? The same reason why she caused him to weaken from the inside out and why he lost his breath when he saw the light hit her emerald eyes?

These feelings were agonizing.

_You know you love them._

Why couldn't he get rid of her? How was she so a part of him that every little thing about her…her eye color, the way her white hair swayed swiftly when a soft breeze hit it, how her eyes would light up with amusement every time she'd call him "Silly"…was superimposed into his mind?

So many questions. Not a single answer.

_What? You know the answer! You l-_

"No," Hamtaro said out loud, clenching his fists.

'Not after what I've been through for the past five years.'

"What's wrong?" Sandy asked. Hamtaro looked up and saw Sandy with a tray of three hot chocolates in her hands. As soon as she sat down with the drinks, Little Bijou eagerly ran over to her parents and took the cup with the most marshmallows to her table in the corner.

"Little Bijou," Hamtaro said sternly to his daughter. The little girl turned around to her parents, curtsied in gratitude, and returned to whatever it was that she was doing at her table.

"What's wrong, Hamtaro-san?" Sandy pressed as she pushed aside her hot chocolate.

"What makes you think there's anything wrong?" Hamtaro asked in return.

"You don't think that after all these years I can tell how you're feeling?" Sandy put on an expression on mock hurt.

"Sorry, Sandy-chan, but there really is not wrong!" Hamtaro assured.

"Keep lying, then," Sandy said quietly as she sipped her chocolate. "Listen, why don't you take a walk? It usually relaxes you, and I know you haven't had the best day in the world."

"Actually, that does sound nice," Hamtaro agreed. He got up from the table. "Thanks for the hot chocolate," he said, smiling at the girl.

"It would've been nice if you actually drank some, but you're welcome," Sandy said smiling back. "Just go and take some time for yourself."

"Daddy was supposed to take me to the park, but he forgot about it when Big Bijou showed up!" The little girl exclaimed from the corner, putting her tiny hands on her hips in her best three-year-old attempt to look mad. "Can I go with him?"

"Hey, why don't you help me finish the bag of marshmallows in the pantry?" Sandy suggested to her daughter, causing the little girl to forget all about going to the park.

Hamtaro smiled at the two girls, said his goodbyes, and left.

-

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"She's an epidemic," Hamtaro said to himself as he walked through the park. Try as he might, he couldn't stop thinking about her, especially in this park.

This was the same park he came to after school on that certain day five years ago. He ran for hours and hours, trying to cause his heart to beat so fast that he could just push her out of his system.

_Needless to say, that didn't work too well, did it? _

He had read "Romeo and Juliet" and he had seen cheesy romantic films because Sandy loved watching them late at night and made him watch them too. But never did he ever see signs of feelings be so strong that even after years and years, they were exactly the same.

_Yeah you have! You're just surprised that something like that could happen to you?_

Again, Hamtaro clenched his fists.

The heart was terrible at choosing.

-

Hamtaro walked for a good hour or so through the long park. One good thing about this park was that it was intricate, long and definitely hard to get out of if someone lost themselves in it.

And that's exactly what he wanted to do.

But suddenly, he heard a soft ringing in his ears. This ringing caused his Ham-Human ears to perk up excitedly while sending a shiver down his back. He couldn't put his finger on where he had heard this ringing before, so he followed its sound.

He found himself a few yards away, astonished.

Bijou was standing under a cherry blossom, laughing as the wind laughed with her and sent pink petals flying around her.

Suddenly, he remembered why the ringing was so familiar.

He watched her, as he stood there a few feet away behind the leaves of a weeping willow. It was then that he realized Bijou was not alone.

"What is Panda doing with her?" Hamtaro pushed down the flame that emerged in his chest.

"That was hilarious!" Bijou exclaimed through her laughter.

It made Hamtaro's heart hurt to see how achingly beautiful she looked when she laughed. He wanted to be the one standing there, watching her laugh as Panda was doing. And what was so hilarious, anyway?

"I love how you're doing that," Panda told her.

"Doing what, Panda-san?" Bijou asked, looking slightly confused.

"Laughing."

Bijou stopped laughing and gave Panda a smile that melted both Hamtaro and Panda's hearts.

"They didn't have cherry blossoms in France, well, at least not as pretty as these." She sighed as she stared up at the tree that cast a light pink shadow around her. "Oh, they're beautiful!"

"Yeah…beautiful," Panda said, although he was not looking at the trees. It was at that moment that Panda decided to do something that would surprise both him and Bijou and make Hamtaro's blood boil.

Panda came closer to Bijou and kissed her.

-

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_How well would a fairytale of us make out?_

_Because every time we build ourselves up,_

_We end up knocking each other down with doubt_

_I want to put a permanent smile on your face_

_It's the only thing that seems worthy for something _

_Of such grace_

_But can you tell me what to do? _

_I'd sacrifice anything, everything…_

_But you, you don't have an ounce_

_Of Chuujitsu_

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When in doubt, re-read this story's summary. Trust me.

**I do not own Hamtaro.**


	7. Bijou II

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**Bijou**

She couldn't believe Pashmina would treat her—or anyone for that matter—like this.

Perhaps she was mad at Bijou for staying away for so long? But still, how could she not even show emotion, be it good or bad, for Bijou's return? Pashmina was after all her best friend at one point so many years ago…

Bijou looked out the diner's window quietly. So far, only Boss and Panda had shown signs of happiness of having her back. Hamtaro, on the other hand, had spoken to her so coldly.

She couldn't help but think of him…and of course, his daughter. A very smart girl.

Suddenly, Bijou felt something warm grab her hand. She looked up, startled.

She found herself looking into the turquoise-green eyes of Pashmina.

"Bijou-chan," Bijou noticed that she was speaking much more softly now. "Why did you come back?"

Bijou felt herself getting emotional again. "Doesn't matter, does it? You obviously don't care if I'm back."

Pashmina shook her head. "That was just for Penelope and Cappy's sakes-"

"You want them to think that you hate me, Pashmina-chan?" Bijou asked quietly.

"Of course not! You know that I could never _hate_ you, Bijou-chan!" Pashmina lowered her head.

"It's just that I was so confused when I saw you, after all these years, looking as though nothing had changed. I mean…when Sandy and I had to go to _Boss_ all those years ago to find out what happened to you, because Hamtaro wasn't saying anything…would it have killed you to tell us what was going on? If you were in such pain, Sandy and I would have liked to known. But anyway, when I saw you, after all these years, I was confused because I wasn't _mad_ at you anymore. I was happy to see you, but I didn't want to be."

"I'm glad that you're happy, Pashmina-chan, to see me. I'm happy to see you! As for what happened five years ago…I didn't want to burden you guys with something that didn't involve you…"

"But we were your best friends, Bijou-chan! Surely that must have counted for something?"

Bijou looked down at the table. She took her hand away from Pashmina's.

"I had no idea how much someone could change in five years," she sighed, staring out the window again.

Pashmina thought for a second. "You've seen Hamtaro-san, haven't you?"

Bijou nodded. "Along with Boss-kun, and, of course, the girl who shares my name…"

"Little Bijou is a very bright girl," Pashmina said. "I'd be honored to share my name with her. So smart…"

"And inquisitive, too. She must get that from Hamtaro," Bijou thought aloud, looking at Pashmina.

"From Hamtaro?" Pashmina was confused. "But-"

"Hey, it's good to see you guys suddenly getting along!" Panda interrupted, rushing over from the counter to the booth. "And Pashmina, I'm so glad you're filling Bijou in on things that she _doesn't know_," He added, giving a strange look to Pashmina.

Pashmina gasped. _She doesn't know?_

Bijou was clearly feeling left out. "Did I miss something?"

"No!" Pashmina and Panda said all too quickly.

"D'accord," (1) Bijou said tentatively. She turned her attention to Panda.

"Why do you keep ringing the bell at the diner counter?" she asked.

"He's just trying to get the attention of our cooks," Pashmina explained.

"Well it's rather rude of them to ignore Panda-san!" Bijou exclaimed.

Panda shook his head. "They're always fighting about something stupid…"

"If you knew them, Bijou-chan, you'd know that they're always doing that-" Pashmina stopped in mid-sentence. "What am I saying? You _do_ know them?"

"I do?" Bijou asked as Panda smirked.

Pashmina got up from the booth and walked over to the table. She leaned over the counter, and cried, "Guys! Someone's here who's dying to see you!"

Bijou looked at Panda when Pashmina said this. "She's not talking about me is she, Panda-san? I'm not dying to see anyone."

"Just wait and see, Bijou-chan," Panda told her, sitting on the booth's table.

A few seconds later, a large crash (which sounded like a bunch of pots and pans falling) was heard from the back of the diner. Then, two Ham-Humans emerged from the back of the diner.

One of them had silver hair and glasses that were too big for his face. He was carrying a large, steaming pot. The other had bushy, brown hair and was carrying a large tray in his hands. Both were wearing aprons and chef hats.

"Who is it, Pashmina-chan? I bet they're here to taste my world-famous _soupe de la jour_!" The silver-haired one exclaimed, coming to the counter to face Pashmina.

"Boy, the only thing 'world-famous' 'bout that soup o' yours is how awful it tastes! They probably came here to try some of my lip-smacking sushi!" The brown-haired one retorted, holding up his tray of sushi to Pashmina's face.

"They came for my _soupe de la jour_, not for that rancid fish you have the audacity to serve to the customers."

"No, for my sushi!"

"_Soupe de la jour_!"

"Sushi!"

"_Soupe d_-" But the silver-haired one was interrupted when Bijou came up to the counter.

"Actually, Dexter-san, it isn't _soupe de la jour_ it's _soupe du jour_, (2) and Howdy-san, I don't think Pashmina-chan appreciates you putting your sushi up to her face like that," Bijou explained.

"Well, what are you, French?" Dexter asked, turning to the source of the voice.

"Yeah, what do you reckon you know, anyway?" Howdy asked, also turning to Bijou.

It only took one look to recognize her…

Dexter and Howdy both dropped what they were carrying, causing Pashmina to scream, "You guys are cleaning that up!"

The two cooks ran to the other side of the counter and approached Bijou. Dexter took off his glasses and dusted them off several time with his apron before he put them back on. Howdy rubbed his eyes until they were red.

"I don't believe it," Dexter said, completely in awe. Howdy nodded.

Bijou put her arms around their necks and hugged them. "I'm so happy to see you guys haven't changed at all! Still fighting as usual!"

"We're glad to see you, too, Bijou-chan," Howdy explained as the two of them hugged her back. When the three Ham-Humans released, Howdy turned to Dexter.

"You owe me ten bucks! She is _so_ alive!"

Dexter groaned, took out his wallet, and paid Howdy the money. Panda and Pashmina looked at Dexter and Howdy in shock and Bijou looked livid.

"You thought she was dead?" Panda asked Dexter.

"You made a bet over whether or not I was dead?" Bijou exclaimed. Dexter and Howdy looked sheepish.

"Well, you just left without a trace…"

"We reckoned Boss-kun killed you or something since he wasn't saying anything else but 'Bijou's gone'…"

"You thought I was a murderer?!" Boss exclaimed, getting up from his booth and revealing that he was there. Pashmina, Bijou, Panda, Dexter and Howdy both turned to look at him.

"Hehe…I got hungry?" he said nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"You were probably following Bijou-chan, weren't you?" Pashmina retorted, her hands on her hips.

Bijou didn't know whether or not to be mad or to laugh. She shook her head.

"Come on, Bijou-chan, I'm gonna give you a tour of the rest of town," Panda said, outstretching his hand. "I think we need a change of scenery, anyway."

Bijou took his hand and together they walked out of the diner.

-

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"Panda-san, I used to walk throughout this town all the time, so I don't need a tour," Bijou said as she walked with Panda downtown.

"Yeah, but that was five years ago. Things have changed, since then, like that electronics shop over there," he said, pointing to a large electronics shop across the street.

Bijou thought for a moment. "I'm pretty sure that was there before…"

"You have to look from the inside, too," Panda explained, dragging her across the street and into the shop.

Once they were inside, Bijou looked around. The shop was huge (then again, it took up nearly the while block). There were massive T.V. monitors everywhere and dozens of light-up displays hanging throughout the shop. There was noise everywhere as cash registers beeped and children ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the several gizmos they saw everywhere. It seemed like a normal electronics shop to her.

"Panda-san! Finally, a _guy_ to talk to!" A Ham-Human with off-white hair specked with black spots exclaimed as he practically ran to Panda. "It's like everyone who walks through those doors is a girl that goes straight to-"

"Oxy!" Panda said, hitting the head of the Ham-Human. "I _do_ have a girl with me and I'm surprised you didn't notice her. Why is it that nobody notices her the first time?"

Oxnard looked at the girl standing next to Panda. "You do have a girl with you!" Oxnard looked like he was about to cry with happiness. "May I help you? We have computers, laptops, MP3 players-"

"Oxnard-san," Bijou said, sounding a bit startled. "Don't you recognize me?"

Oxnard thought for a moment. "Should I?" he asked at length.

Panda smacked Oxnard's head again. "Come on, Bijou, there's someone else here that will probably **remember** you," Panda said as he started to drag her to another part of the store.

"Bijou?" Oxnard said. "Oh! Wait! Bijou!!!" He ran up to Panda and Bijou.

"Sorry, Bijou-chan!" he said, bowing to her, "I guess I kinda couldn't believe it at first." He, startling Bijou, hugged her very tightly.

"I'm happy to see you, too, Oxnard-san, but you're crushing me," Bijou explained. Oxnard let her go.

"When did you come back?" he asked after he put her down.

"This morning," Bijou explained. Then she turned to Panda. "How many more surprises are there for me? Everywhere you take me you introduce me to an old friend!"

"Can you honestly complain about that?" Panda responded in a voice that sounded very much like he was flirting with the girl.

"No, but I would like to be prepared," Bijou responded. "And didn't you say that there was someone else here that I knew?"

Oxnard groaned. "I should have figured. Everyone loves to go to him…"

"Him?" Bijou thought aloud. "And if I knew you worked here, Oxnard, rest assured that this would be one of the first places I visited."

"That's ok, Bijou-chan. Besides, I've got work to do, anyway." With that said, Oxnard told Bijou once again how happy he was to see her, and then he left to another part of the store. Bijou looked at Panda.

"So, Panda-san, tell me, where are we going next?"

"Nowhere, apparently," Panda said, pointing to a large group of girls that was approaching them.

"Ok, ladies, I know you all adore me, but I really do have to work," a smooth and familiar voice said from the middle of the group of girls. The group of girls whined but the girls eventually left, leaving a single Ham-Human man on the floor.

The Ham-Human had golden-brown hair and familiar lime-green eyes. He looked around at Bijou and Panda, and he nearly lost his footing.

"Bijou-chan! I've never been so happy to see a girl…today!" Stan exclaimed, grabbing her hand and kissing it. "You know, I bet France had a lot of things, but it didn't have me, did it? That's why you came back, I know it is. And don't worry, Princess Bijou, I'm just as thrilled to see you, too," he explained, getting awfully close to Bijou's face.

"Stan-san you haven't changed, not a single bit," Bijou said excitedly, hugging Stan and giving him hearts as eyes.

Panda's jaw nearly dropped. "It figures that _you'd_ be the first person to notice her over me, Stan-san."

"Panda-san! When did you get here?" Stan asked, noticing the other guy for the first time. Panda fell over anime-style.

Bijou smiled. "Last time I checked, you had to beg for girls' attentions, and now they form crowds around you! Very impressive…"

"What can I say, Lovely bijou? I've got the magic touch-"

"No, you don't Stan-san. You just give every girl you see a 90 discount on everything," Panda snapped. "That's the only reason they huddle around you like that."

"Well…I don't see any crowds of girls around you!"

Bijou laughed. "Do I not count for anything, Stan-san?"

"Of course you do, Beautiful Bijou. That's why you should quit hanging around with that wet-blanket Panda and hang out with me."

She shook her head. "Desolée (3), but Panda's giving me a tour of the town, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call him a wet-blanket. Panda-san, how many more surprises are there left? I've already met more than half of my old friends-"

"Even Hamtaro-san?" Stan interjected, his voice serious for the first time.

"Yes," Bijou said quietly, causing Stan to give her a worried look, "And I even met his daughter…"

"Little Bijou," Stan said, smiling. "Isn't she adorable?"

"I suppose," Bijou answered.

"Of course she is! She's got my blood running through her!" Stan exclaimed proudly.

Bijou gave Panda and Stan a strange look. "Heke?"

Panda gasped and quickly started to drag Bijou out of the shop. "It was nice seeing you, Stan, and tell Oxy 'bye' for us!" Panda said quickly as he rushed out of the shop.

"Wait…what did he mean?" Bijou asked Panda as they started to walk down the street. "About how his blood runs through Little Bijou's veins…"

"Well…" Panda stalled. "We all consider Little Bijou our daughter, that's all." Panda knew that his excuse was lame, but he knew Bijou wasn't ready to hear the truth.

"Oh."

The two Ham-Humans approached a small boutique where a beautiful wedding gown was displayed in the window.

"Let me guess, Sandy-chan works here?" Bijou guessed. "She's the only one whom I haven't met that fits this description."

"Yeah, but unfortunately her shop is closed," Panda said. "Oh well…"

Bijou sighed. "What about Maxwell-san? I haven't heard at all about him."

Panda choked. Her question threw him a bit off guard. "You probably will…Let's go back to the park. They usually have vendors there by now, and we still haven't gotten you anything to eat."

Bijou once again got the feeling that she missed something, but she nevertheless followed Panda back to the park.

-

-

Bijou was licking the last bits of her ice cream cone when she realized something.

"Panda-san! You've shown me everyone else and where they work, but what about you?"

Panda thought as he finished off the end of his popsicle. "Well, I'm currently getting my Masters in carpentry, so I'm still in school."

"You're going to become a great carpenter, one day," she told him.

"Thanks," Panda paused. "I bet you're also wondering where Hamtaro and Boss work, right?"

"It crossed my mind once or twice…"

Panda threw out his popsicle stick in a nearby garbage can. "Well, Boss is a soccer coach at the local high school and Hamtaro works as a botanist for the local botanical gardens (4)."

"Boss-kun I can imagine as a coach, but Hamtaro-san working in science?" Bijou pondered.

"I know, it's odd," Panda agreed as they came to rest under a cherry blossom tree.

"I have so memories with those two," Bijou sighed. "I missed them both terribly."

"Hey," Panda said, trying to lighten the mood, "Remember how Boss-kun would always leave the clubhouse's door unlocked even though we all told him not to?"

"Oh, right! And because he would never listen, all of us went into the clubhouse one night during eighth grade and ransacked the whole place! I nearly forgot about that!" Bijou exclaimed as her eyes lit up with memories.

"Yeah, Boss-kun freaked out when he saw the mess. He kept thinking that robbers were after his vintage collection of bubble gum…eww…why would anyone want that?"

"That was the first thing he checked for when he saw the mess," Bijou said.

"The next day he went to the hardware store and bought the strongest lock he could find!"

"And don't forget how he ended up cleaning the mess!" Bijou laughed. "Ooh! And How he flipped out when we told him that all of us made the mess."

"Yeah, he locked the clubhouse and didn't give any of us the key to punish us, but then he ended up losing the key himself!"

By now, Bijou was about to keel over with laughter. "That was hilarious!" she exclaimed through her laughter.

"I love how you're doing that," Panda told her.

"Doing what, Panda-san?" Bijou asked, looking slightly confused.

"Laughing."

This made Bijou give Panda one of the nicest smiles she could. She looked up at the cherry blossom trees around her.

"They didn't have cherry blossoms in France, well, at least not as pretty as these." She sighed. "Oh, they're beautiful!"

"Yeah…beautiful," she heard Panda say. Panda started to approach Bijou, and before Bijou could do anything about it….

…he kissed her…

It was just a small kiss on the cheek, but it felt so weird coming from Panda that Bijou immediately broke away.

Bijou looked at Panda for a moment. "…umm…"

"Panda!" Hamtaro cried, jumping out from behind a tree.

Bijou and Panda both turned to look at him. "Hamtaro-san? You were probably spying on us like Boss-kun was, weren't you?" Panda asked angrily. Bijou, on the other hand, felt nervous seeing him again.

_Oh how he caused her to get those cursed butterflies every time she saw him!_

"No, I wasn't really!" Hamtaro's cheeks turned red. He had no idea why he jumped out like that. Looking back, it was a stupid thing to do, but it was like a reflex that was impossible to control.

"Then what were you doing?" Bijou asked quietly, approaching the orange and white haired Ham-Human slowly.

"I was taking a walk in the park because it relaxes me Bijou-chan, you know that, and I just happened to hear your voices."

"Do you believe him?" Panda asked the girl.

"I…well, walking in the park _does_ relax him…that's a fact," Bijou said, looking at Panda and then to Hamtaro.

Hamtaro smiled. It felt good to know that she believed him.

"Bijou-chan, I'm glad I found you, though. Can we walk?" Hamtaro asked. "Alone," he quickly added.

Bijou bit her lip. "I'm not sure if that's such a good idea."

"I agree," Panda said quickly. Hamtaro gave Panda a weird look. He hadn't suddenly forgotten about that kiss…

"Please, Bijou-chan, it'll only take a few moments?" There was something about the way he pleaded to her, that, without knowing it, Bijou nodded and mumbled a nearly inaudible, "Ok." Her agreeing to go with him just caused Hamtaro to smile more.

"Are you sure, Bijou-chan?" Panda quickly asked, coming in front of Bijou.

"I'll be fine, Panda-san, and thank you for all that you've done for me in the past couple of hours," she said, bowing to Panda before she and Hamtaro set down the path.

-

-

Going with Hamtaro seemed like a bigger mistake the more Bijou and Hamtaro walked down the park's path. Neither of them said anything, and the tension between them could have been cut with a knife.

"I-"

"Listen, Bijou-"

They spoke at the same time, and so they immediately quieted down and looked away from each other.

"Where are we going?" Bijou asked at length.

"The clubhouse," Hamtaro replied tersely.

"That's nice," Bijou said quietly. "Nice weather, isn't it?" As soon as she said that, she felt like smacking herself. Talk of weather made this seem like a really bad first date.

_What could've been if you stayed…_

"I wish you let me say what I needed to say instead of slamming that car door in my face," Hamtaro finally said, his head cast down.

'_We were getting along so nicely before, too,'_ Bijou thought as Hamtaro said those words. She shook her head.

"Would it have made a difference?" Bijou asked indignantly.

"It would have made a world of difference," Hamtaro replied, causing Bijou to give him a sharp look.

The two of them stopped walking. They had come to the hatch door that led to the clubhouse.

"Here we are," Hamtaro said. He leaned down and opened the door. Then he climbed down the small metal ladder that went into the clubhouse.

Bijou felt a wave of nostalgia sweep over her. It had been so long since she climbed down that ladder.

She eventually climbed down and the two of them went through the underground tunnel that led to the actual clubhouse.

As Hamtaro opened the door, all of Bijou's senses immediately became alert.

The clubhouse! How she missed its warm yellow color and cozy, inviting feeling! And she adored all the old furniture, the tables, the large green chair that only Boss ever sat in, and of course…

"Snoozer!" Bijou exclaimed running up to the sleeping bag that held a Ham-Human who was constantly asleep.

"Shhh!!!" Hamtaro ordered, pointing to the small, pink sleeping bag next to Snoozer's that held the sleeping angel that was Little Bijou.

Bijou quieted down, but she couldn't help but inwardly frown. She had temporarily forgotten about Little Bijou.

It was then that the smell hit Bijou. It was such a familiar smell that caused Bijou to warm from the inside out.

"That smells just like the hot cocoa Sandy-chan used to make," Bijou told Hamtaro, sniffing the air. "Wait…" Bijou went to the corner of the clubhouse where a small green door led to the clubhouse's kitchen.

She opened the door quietly and poked her head inside.

There, a lovely strawberry-blonde Ham-Human was stirring a large pot of something atop the stove.

Sandy sighed. "Little Bijou, for the last time, I'm not done with the hot chocolate yet. And besides, you had three cups already, so I doubt you should even get any more."

Bijou opened the door a little wider and let herself in.

"Actually, Little Bijou's sleeping, Sandy-chan, but I'm here, if it's any consolation."

Sandy gasped and turned around, facing Bijou.

"…Bijou-chan!" Sandy squeaked excitedly. She cleared her throat. "Sorry…I…"

Bijou ran up to the girl and hugged her tightly.

"I missed you too, Sandy!"

Sandy pulled away from Bijou and looked her up and down. "I don't know whether to hug you some more or to hurt you! Do you have any idea how—"

"Upset you and Pashmina-chan were when I left without any notice? I know, and I'm extremely sorry-"

"Not that, silly," Sandy teased. Although she had been upset with Bijou, just being able to see her made Sandy happy. After all, they were best friends! "What I was going to say was do you have any idea how crummy my hot cocoa tastes without your homemade whipped cream topping?"

Bijou laughed. "Just get me some milk and sugar and we can fix that immediately."

-

-

Moments later, Bijou and Sandy came out of the kitchen, each with two cups of hot cocoa in their hands.

Hamtaro came next to the girls. "I'm glad you guys are talking," he told them, keeping his voice quiet.

"Is there any reason we wouldn't be?" Bijou asked, feeling yet again that she was missing something.

"Of course not," Sandy said, laughing strangely. "Why would there be, Hamtaro-san?" Sandy asked Hamtaro, giving him a look that explained all.

_I didn't tell her!_ Sandy's eyes told Hamtaro, causing Hamtaro to nod his head in understanding.

"…No reason," Hamtaro quickly added.

Suddenly, a little two-foot-tall creature covered in a wooly pink sleeping bag hopped over to the three adult Ham-Humans.

Little Bijou squeezed her head out of the sleeping bag she had it covered with and looked at the adults as excitement filled her sleepy eyes. "I smell hot cocoa—Hey, it's you!" she cried, pointing to Bijou.

"No…" Hamtaro thought aloud. Suddenly bringing Bijou to the clubhouse didn't seem like a good idea.

"Little Bijou, why don't you go back to sleep and let the grownups talk," Sandy tried to persuade, but unfortunately, Little Bijou had lost all interest in sleep.

"But mother! This is Big Bijou!"

A small crash was heard as Bijou dropped the two cups of hot cocoa.

"_Mother?"_

-

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-

-

Ok, that was the equivalent of three chapters. Why so long?

Simple, I want to end this fic and get "Petals" uploaded already!

(1) D'accord is the French way of saying "Ok"

(2) Soupe du jour is the French words for "Soup of the day"

(3) Desolée is sorry (feminine) in what language? You guessed it! French!

(4) The fact that I made Hamtaro work at the botanical gardens is a foreshadowing of his job in "Petals", so I kind of just gave you a sneak peak!

Ok, so please review since this was the longest chapter and I'd appreciate the feedback!

**I do not own Hamtaro. **


	8. Hamtaro and Bijou

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-

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**Hamtaro**

He bit his lip as he watched Bijou pat down the hot cocoa stains that were starting to set into the green carpet of the clubhouse. The only sounds in the room were of her shuffling around and trying to wipe out the stains as best as she could.

It had only been a few moments ago that Little Bijou had called Sandy mother, and although the older Bijou had cried out when she heard this, she hadn't said a word since.

Little Bijou was currently in the kitchen with Sandy, and that left Hamtaro and Bijou alone in the main room, which was all the more unnerving for both of them.

Going against his better judgment, he went to her, crouched and on her knees, and leaned down to her level. Bijou at first ignored his presence and continued cleaning, but he grabbed the hand she was using to clean the stain, and she looked up at him with eyes that she was desperately trying to keep steady.

"At least let me help," he offered, but she all too quickly jerked her hand away from his.

"I made the mess. Let me clean it," she replied in an ice cold voice.

"You have hot cocoa on your legs," Hamtaro explained as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, feeling like a teenage boy loaded up with hormones as he scanned the length of her exposed legs. "At least let me get some of you—get something for you."

Bijou looked at her legs and noticed the bits of cocoa that had splashed on when she dropped the two cups. She also noticed them when the liquid first splashed onto her, but at the moment she felt too numb to really care.

"I'm fine."

"We need to talk," Hamtaro replied back, forcing his voice to come out more calmly than he actually felt. Why did this girl have such control over his emotions?

"There's nothing to talk about." With that said, Bijou stood up and squeezed the rag in her hands. The way she cast her eyes down on Hamtaro showed him that she was trying to seem more powerful than the current situation made her feel.

"I think there is," Hamtaro said as he stood up, and being a whole head taller than her, ruining the intimidating effect Bijou was trying to create. "And I'm pretty sure that you want to hear it."

"And why do you think that?" Bijou asked aggressively, wringing the life out of the poor rag in her hands. Bijou cast her head to the side and looked away. Her pale skin was quickly becoming a sheet of red as she tried to shake away the tears in her eyes. "Why would I ever want to talk with you?"

Hamtaro felt something in his chest tighten. He tried to convince himself that she didn't actually mean that. "The last time I needed to talk to you, you didn't want to listen and you ended up changing both our lives."

"But the change was for the better, wasn't it?" Bijou's head sharply turned back to him.

He couldn't possibly tell her how much he ached when he saw those tears falling from her eyes, and it caused him even more suffering to know that he had been the one to put them there. If only he hadn't brought her here; she never would have heard Little Bijou call Sandy mother, and perhaps she'd be happy right now.

Hamtaro thought back to when he saw her laughing with Panda. He used to laugh with her like that, but that was before, over five years ago. They somehow always attracted each other's company in a crowd, and as soon as they came together, it was if they couldn't stop smiling. Hamtaro had thought that he and Bijou were just platonic friends, although throughout the years of his friendship, he could feel his want for a platonic friendship dying and his need to have her as something else, something more.

But despite the fact that he was starting to grow more feelings for her, he didn't realize that she, too, was trying to advance their friendship. Why was he such as idiot? Why didn't he realize what she was trying to say when she told him, "I love you"?

"The change was unexpected," Hamtaro started to say, "But it was…I can't imagine my life without my daughter anymore." It was the truth, and the fact that he meant what he just said made Bijou take a sharp breath.

"I'm happy for you, Hamtaro-san." Bijou used her free hand to trim away the tears hanging from her eyelashes. "And Sandy-chan."

Before Hamtaro could reply, Bijou swiftly ran into the kitchen.

-

"Mother," Little Bijou pressed as she pulled on Sandy's sleeve. "Why do we care what they're saying?" she asked for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"Shhh…Mommy just wants to make sure that Daddy is alright," Sandy explained. "Cats!" she quickly hissed as she moved away from the door.

A few seconds later, Bijou pushed open the kitchen door and threw her rag into the trash can. She went over to the small sink in the corner and turned the water on, washing her hands and then rubbing her legs to get rid of the hot cocoa there, all the while not saying a word to Sandy or Little Bijou.

Hamtaro came into the kitchen and instantly felt the tension in the room. He looked at Sandy, and in response, Sandy simply shrugged her shoulders. The two of them were so very confused as to what do about the French girl that they didn't even notice Little Bijou sneak out to the main room of the clubhouse.

-

Now, Little Bijou was very smart for her age. Her teacher even said that she was reading at a second-grade level, and for a three-year-old, that was one of the best things she could ever be told. Many people claimed that the intelligence was in her genes, but Little Bijou simply attributed it to the fact that she was a naturally curious child.

And at the moment, when Little Bijou saw a big, navy blue messenger bag that was very unfamiliar to her, her curiosity kicked in. She, like most little girls, loved to play dress up and carry around purses as if she were much older than she actually was, and this bag was just calling out to be played with.

"You're so big," she told the bag as she came closer to the table it had been placed beside. She tried to pull the bag by its strap towards her, with no success.

"And heavy!" She then decided to see what exactly was in the bag that made it so heavy.

-

Bijou tried her best to ignore the way Hamtaro and Sandy stared at her as she dried her hands, but she felt that her patience was wearing down as the couple continued to stare her down as if she was an alien object.

"You know, I won't break if you stare at me too hard," Bijou snapped angrily as she approached the side of the kitchen Hamtaro and Sandy were standing in.

The identical shocked and surprised looks in their eyes made Bijou realize how harsh her words were.

"I'm sorry," she offered meekly as she stared down at her feet, although she really did not care much for apologizing to the two of them.

Did they think she couldn't notice the worried glances Hamtaro and Sandy gave to each other as they watched her at the sink? Were they truly worried about what she was going to do next? Did they really think she was so fragile and uptight that she was ready to break at any moment?

_But you are, _her mind taunted, causing Bijou's pupils to widen.

I'm fine.

_No, you're not._

Really, I just need to clear my mind.

_Stop. This denial thing is getting old._

I need to be alone. I start getting too emotional every time I'm around _him_.

_Why do you think that is?_

…

_Well?_

Make it stop, _please_.

_Make what stop?_

You know.

_Apparently not._ _What do you mean?_

You know. Stop playing dumb.

_Oh, I'm not the one playing dumb here. Now tell me again, make what stop?_

My lo-

"**Testing!** **Testing! Wow! This makes my voice go soooooo loud! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!! Hi! My name is Bijou! I'm Three years old! My favorite color is pink! My favorite animal is the ponyyyyyyyyyy! I love horses but my daddy said that I can't have one!!!!!!!!" **

The sudden burst of noise broke the stillness in the room. Bijou, Hamtaro and Sandy all looked up as they covered their Ham-Human ears from the ringing the loudness caused. After the ringing eventually died down, Hamtaro gave Sandy a strange look.

"Does Little Bijou have a toy microphone?" He asked her.

Sandy shook her head. "Not one that goes _that_ loud, Hamtaro-san," she replied.

_Cats._ Bijou felt like slapping her head. "Desolée, that's my microphone she's playing with."

"_Your_ microphone?" Sandy asked, confused. "Do you normally bring one of those wherever you travel?"

"Actually, yes," Bijou enlightened. "I'll explain in a minute."

Bijou then opened the kitchen door and went out with Hamtaro and Sandy following suit.

As soon as they left the kitchen, they found Little Bijou holding a very professional looking microphone is her hands, tapping the head of the microphone because she enjoyed the echoing sound it made. Bijou tried not to wince at the sight of a little kid playing with her equipment as if it were some sort of a toy. It was then that she noticed that the microphone was not the only thing Little Bijou had gotten to.

The big Bijou stared at the belongings of her bag, thrown all around the child. From her camera to her press badge and even her cell phone, everything from her bag had been oh so thoughtfully emptied by the girl.

"Little Bijou," Hamtaro said as he walked over to the girl. He crossed his hands over his chest and looked down at the child. "Where did you get that?"

"**From the big bag!"** Little Bijou exclaimed excitedly, causing the adult Ham-Humans to once again cover their ears.

"Was that _your_ big bag to be playing with?" Sandy asked, her hands never leaving her ears.

"**No, but mommy!** **Look at all the cool stuff in this bag!"** the child exclaimed as she pointed to the open bag and then to the items that lay around her.

"What do you do for a living?" Hamtaro asked Bijou incredulously as he stared at the various objects.

"What do you mean?" Bijou asked innocently.

"I don't know many people who carry around a camera that huge wherever they go," Hamtaro explained as he pointed to the large, bulky device that seemed too big to even fit in the bag.

"I'll have you know that I'm a journalist, and I have to do many on-the-set reports," Bijou explained proudly, puffing out her chest a little. "The camera is an essential thing to have when you're in my line of work."

Hamtaro was about to respond when he noticed a card laying at Little Bijou's feet. He picked it up and read the words on the card aloud.

"The Red Seashell. Is that where you're staying?" He asked as he looked up at the white-haired girl.

Bijou let out a small 'yes' as she crouched down and picked her cell phone off the floor. She looked at the screen of her phone and noticed that she had several missed calls.

"10 Missed calls? Cats! I'm late!" she cried as her eyes lit up with remembrance. She grabbed her large bag and started to stuff all her equipment into it.

"I'm going to need that back," she told Little Bijou as she tried to pry the microphone out of the toddler's hands.

"But I love it so much! Can I have it? Please?" the young girl asked, pulling the microphone towards her and making her eyes as large and watery as possible because that's always what made Hamtaro obey her wishes.

However, Bijou was not Hamtaro. Bijou took the microphone from the girl's hands and crammed it into her bag. She stood up and dusted herself off.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again, Sandy-chan," Bijou said as she adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "And it was truly lovely to meet the girl who shares my name."

Sandy's eyes started to shake with worry. "Bijou-chan…"

"Where are you going?" Hamtaro asked; the way Bijou was talking was starting to make Hamtaro feel very suspicious and nervous…Just like that day five years ago…

"I'd love to stay and talk more, but I'm late so I have to go." Without another word, the French Ham-Human turned on her heel and ran out the clubhouse's door.

A couple of moments passed while Hamtaro and Sandy just stared at the door, unable to comprehend what just happened so quickly.

"Mother? Father?" Little Bijou asked, noticing that both her parents had suddenly become unusually quiet. Then a thought dawned on her. "I want to be like Big Bijou and have a microphone just like hers!"

"Do you think she's going back to France?" Hamtaro asked worriedly. All Sandy could do was bite her lip.

"Hamtaro-san," Hamtaro and Little Bijou looked up at the girl for her voice did not have the stable, soft and soothing sound it usually did. It was upset and stressed.

"Sandy-chan?"

"Mother?"

"Don't make the same mistake, twice, Hamtaro-san. Please." Why did she look so upset all of a sudden? "Go after her. She needs you. Help her like you helped me."

"You're not alright, Sandy." Hamtaro did not know how happy Sandy felt to hear him use her name so familiarly.

Hamtaro pulled out one of the seats from the clubhouse's table. "Sit down."

"No, I'm fine. Please, Hamtaro-san, just..help her," Sandy finished with a defeated sigh. "Stop her from leaving."

Although Hamtaro knew that Sandy was not at her best at the moment, he knew she was also right. If he didn't stop Bijou from leaving now, who knew when they'd ever meet again?

He thought about it. A live without ever seeing Bijou-chan again. That oh-too familiar tight feeling reappeared in his chest.

Putting his arms firmly on Sandy's shoulders, he sat his wife down on the chair he pulled out. "Feel better, Sandy-chan." He smiled at the two girls in the room and left.

-

-

He knew she couldn't have gotten too far in the two-minute head start she had. Still, Hamtaro found himself walking quickly (nervously, really), throughout the park's path.

But then, amidst the clouds bleak grayness of the clouds that had started to form that day, he saw an unmistakable speck of white standing at the park's gates, Panda-san, much to Hamtaro's disdain (he remembered that kiss), conversing with her.

However, the worst part of the scenario was the black car that was parked in front of the gates. It looked almost identical to the car that had left in all those years ago, and this fact filled Hamtaro up with indignation.

"Bijou-chan!" he cried as he ran up to the two Ham-Humans.

Panda seemed a bit upset at the sight of Hamtaro, but he quickly changed his face to a look of apathy. Bijou, on the other hand, felt her face getting red again. She could feel the words 'flustered' and 'nervous' being written on her face using the much-hated red ink of blush. Cats. She wasn't expecting him to follow her, though she did find herself feeling a bit better that he did. Why did he have such control over her feelings?

"Bijou-chan," Hamtaro panted for a few seconds as he caught his breath. "What's the car for?"

"It's hers. The airport dropped it off a couple of hours ago," Panda responded, his voice having a sharp edge that Hamtaro was not familiar with. Her car. This must have been what she was late for. Still, Hamtaro tried to look for the good in this situation.

"You had your car brought over? That means you're staying, right?" Hamtaro asked. He put his hands over her shoulders and leaned down so that their eyes were locked on each other.

_So green…_

_Blue _was _always my favorite color._

"I…no! I just had it brought over incase I decided to stay for a little while," Bijou explained, keeping her eyes focused on Hamtaro's.

"But she's decided that staying isn't right for her," Panda cut in, noticing that these two were lost in their own little world.

"You don't have to go," Hamtaro reminded. "No one wants you to."

"I want to," Bijou answered. "Hamtaro-san, returning here was a mistake."

"Don't say that, Bijou-chan, please…"

Bijou turned her head away from Hamtaro. "It's just that…too much has changed in five years. I can't—"

"Bijou-chan, nothing has changed!" Panda, Hamtaro and Bijou turned to the source of the new voice.

Sandy was standing at the gates of the park, her daughter right behind her. Sandy's hands were at her sides, hands clenched into little fists.

"Nothing has changed," Sandy repeated. Little Bijou nodded in agreement with her mother, not knowing that she was one of the biggest causes for Bijou's melancholy disposition.

"Yes it has, Sandy-chan, and I really don't want to argue about this anymore." Bijou opened the back door of her car and threw in her large bag.

Little Bijou noticed this. The bag was so close…and she really wanted to play with the microphone again. If only she could get into the car for just a second!

"Maybe…" As Bijou started to speak, Hamtaro, Sandy and Panda looked up in hope. "It was a very good thing that I left." She looked up at Hamtaro.

"How could you ever say that?" Hamtaro asked, almost angrily.

"You don't mean that," Panda tried to convince himself.

Bijou shook her head. "Forget it. You didn't understand it then so you probably wouldn't get it now." She crossed over to the front of her car and pulled open the door.

"Understand what, Bijou-chan? Why do you have to make this so complicated?" Sandy demanded as she walked over to Bijou's door. Bijou hadn't gotten into the car yet, so Sandy knew she still had time to change the girl's mind.

"I'm not making anything complicated. Why don't any of you understand? Your lives have been fine for the past five years. You don't need me to come back and mess everything up!" Bijou sighed as she let out a deep breath and looked at Sandy. "Try to think of what I'm saying."

"You going anywhere won't solve anything," Panda reminded.

"Wait…you can't go anywhere, really, you can't," Hamtaro mused aloud. Bijou looked up at him, confused.

"You don't have a Japanese driver's license," Hamtaro explained with a small smile on his face.

Bijou shook her head yet again. "Since I am an international journalist, I have an international license." Hamtaro and Panda's faces could not help but show the disappointment that they felt.

"Please don't go, Bijou-chan. You don't know what happened the last time you did this," Sandy explained.

Bijou looked at Sandy and then at Hamtaro. As she got into her car, she quietly said, "Somehow, I don't think I want to know."

Hamtaro came in front of her car, placing his hands angrily on the hood, and stared straight through the glass at Bijou.

"You can't run away every time something doesn't go your way," he declared.

"Hamtaro-san, why can't you realize that your life is better off without me?!" Bijou replied as her eyes became sharp and focused.

Why were all of them making this so hard for her? She just wanted to go home, to France, on the other side of the world…She hated the feeling of being here and hated…

…the fact that her best friend married _him_.

"My life was _miserable_ without you, Bijou!"

Bijou and Sandy gasped. He had never addressed her so, without the suffix 'chan'. And then, of course, what he just said…

"You're lying," Bijou said. She inserted her key and pressed her foot on the pedal: the car turned on. Hamtaro knew that there was no stopping her now.

Hamtaro stepped aside, watching miserably as she and her car drove away. He knew that this could very possibly be the last time he ever saw her…heard her voice…stared into those emerald green eyes…_Cats_…what had he done?

"How could you let her do that?" Panda asked angrily. "Why didn't you tell her what really happened all those years ago? She needed to know!"

"Well, Panda-san, why didn't _you_ stop her?" Hamtaro asked indignantly as he looked behind him at Panda.

"Because, she wanted, and _needed_, to hear it from you."

"That's ridi—"

"Guys," Sandy said, a little panicky, "Where's Little Bijou?"

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**Bijou**

Bijou drove furiously through the streets of Japan, occasionally staring at the houses and buildings that she used to visit. However, due to the rain that had started, sightseeing wasn't exactly the best thing to do, so she continued to drive.

_It was raining that day five years ago, too, do you remember?_

"Déjà vu," Bijou said quietly as she continued to drive. She was on the main route now.

"What does that mean?" a small voice asked as she popped her head up from the back seat. Bijou, who just felt the life scared out of her, looked back to see if her ears had deceived her.

"Little Bijou? _What the-_" Bijou nearly steered off the road as soon as she heard the little girl giggle in excitement. Luckily, she was able to pull the car over to the side of the route.

"What does _They ga boo mean_?" the little girl asked eagerly.

"What are you doing here?" Bijou snapped. "And you scared me half to death! Are you crazy?"

Little Bijou was rarely ever yelled at, so hearing Big Bijou's anger was very unnerving for the three-year-old. Therefore, despite all her efforts to act like a big girl and not care, her little lips started to tremble and she started to snivel. Eventually, though, she started to cry.

"_Zut_! I mean, sorry…I'm so sorry! Umm…you want to play with my microphone?" Bijou asked nervously, trying to make amends with the girl.

Little Bijou's crying magically came to a halt. "Yeah!"

-

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"Ribon, Bijou," Bijou told the receptionist as she checked in. "I believe I made reservations."

"Ahh…yes, of course. There you are. Oh—I see you received a phone call."

"Was it from Mr. Hamtaro Haruna or perhaps Mrs. Sandy Haruna?" Bijou asked.

"Why yes, actually. From Mrs. Haruna. She said she's coming over. How'd you know?"

Bijou looked down at the floor where the three-year-old, who was having a blast playing with her microphone, was standing.

"Call it a hunch."

-  
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Bijou looked out her room's window and looked back over, for the millionth time, at the phone. She was expecting the call that said Hamtaro and Sandy had come to pick up their daughter any minute.

There was a thunderstorm outside, and that probably made the traffic horrible, so Bijou figured she had a few minutes to relax. She walked over to her bed and sat down, opposite the little girl who was also sitting on it.

"You really like that microphone, don't you?" she asked the girl who kept switching the microphone from on to off to on again, etc.

"I've never had a toy like this. It goes so loud!" Little Bijou exclaimed.

"You have the excitement of your mother and father," Bijou thought aloud as she ran a hand through Little Bijou's chestnut brown hair. "Sandy-chan was an exciting dancer who could never sit still, and then of course there's Hamtaro-san…I can't think why he'd ever name you after me."

Bijou sighed and looked away. She didn't notice the stare that Little Bijou was giving her.

"I told you. He named me after the only woman he ever loved."

Bijou smiled sadly as she looked over at the girl. "Really? And your mother, Sandy-chan, what is she?"

"My mother," Little Bijou proclaimed.

"Exactly." Bijou moved back to press her back against the headboard. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her hands over them. She leaned her head onto her hands and mirrored the little girl's stare.

"What does it mean?" Little Bijou asked quietly.

"Hmm? What does what mean?" Bijou responded, keeping her voice quiet as well.

"Bijou."

"Oh…well, umm, that's the French word for jewel," Bij Bijou responded.

"I like that," Little Bijou said quietly.

Bijou smiled. "I'm glad you do."

Little Bijou put the microphone in her hands down on the bed. She crawled over to where Bijou was sitting and looked up at her.

"I wish you could stay. I think that would make my father happy."

Bijou felt her face getting wet again. "No it wouldn't, trust me."

"You cry a lot," Little Bijou noticed.

Big Bijou wiped her eyes with her fingers. "Sorry…"

"I don't think you should be. My mother told me that real men cry. Does that mean real women cry, too?" the little girl asked.

"Don't ever be afraid to show your feelings, Little Bijou," Bijou said quietly. "Never keep things to yourself."

Just then, a knock was heard on Bijou's door. Bijou quickly got up and looked through the door's peephole.

"It's your parents," Bijou told the little girl as she unlocked the door and opened it.

To say that Hamtaro and Bijou were worried was an understatement. As soon as the door was opened, Sandy ran inside and rushed over to the bed. She picked up her daughter and cried with happiness.

"Oh, sweetie! Please don't ever scare me like that again!" she exclaimed as she stroked her daughter's hair gently.

Hamtaro leaned in the doorway and let out a huge sigh of relief. Bijou heard him repeat "she's okay" at least five times as he watched Sandy embrace their daughter. He finally walked to his wife and daughter and kissed his daughter's hair several times.

Bijou watched this scene unfold and couldn't help but feel a wave of uselessness wash over her. Hamtaro was happy. Sandy was happy. Their daughter was happy. She knew the cold, harsh fact was that she was not necessary in this equation. Her eyes were fighting back tears for she knew that she could not look weak, not now.

"Bijou," Sandy said. Big Bijou looked up, only to see that Sandy was talking with Little Bijou. "Go with your father. I need to talk with Big Bijou."

Little Bijou jumped into her father's arms and Hamtaro started to walk away. However, Big Bijou stopped him and picked the microphone off of the bed.

"I think Little Bijou would like this," she said as she handed the little girl the microphone. Little Bijou looked ecstatic and Hamtaro simply nodded in thanks and continued to walkaway.

When he was in the doorway, he turned around and said, "I'll be in the lobby." And carried Little Bijou away.

When they left, Sandy walked to the door and closed it. "Bijou-chan….thank you for taking care of her…"

Bijou simply sat down on her bed. She wasn't sure why Sandy wanted to talk to her, but she knew it probably would end up depressing her more.

"You're welcome, Sandy-chan," she answered at length.

"I suppose you're wondering why I wanted to talk to you," Sandy assumed tentatively as she sat down beside Bijou on the bed.

"Sandy-chan, you're not going to change my mind. I'm leaving, and that's that," Bijou explained. "So if you're trying to persuade me otherwise, it's just going to be a waste of time."

"Alright then," Sandy said as she nodded her head. "But my intentions were actually to tell you something, not try and make you stay, although I'd really like it if you could." Sandy took a deep breath.

"This is a story you really need to hear," Sandy continued. If Bijou was interested, she did not show it. She just sat on her bed and listened quietly.

"What is it exactly that I need to hear?" Bijou finally asked.

Sandy knew that she had to get Bijou's attention. She got up and brought the chair from the hotel room's desk to in front of Bijou. She sat on it, her legs crossed and her arms resting on the armrests patiently, although she kept shifting the position of her legs and tapped her fingers on the chair's handle rather quickly.

Bijou looked at Sandy as she did this and wondered why Sandy suddenly seemed to be so nervous. Sandy pressed her back against the chair and looked at Bijou, her eyes focused on the French girl.

"The story of what happened while you were gone."

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Well, the next chapter's the one you've all been waiting for. It's the one that explains how…well, everything that has yet to be explained in this story happened.

I'm pretty sure that there may be 2-3 chapters left. Once again, thank you for making this story so much fun to write!

Don't forget to review!

**I do not own Hamtaro. **


	9. Sandy

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**Sandy**

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**Five years earlier**

**-**

**-**

The weather reports said that the rain would only worsen throughout the day, and judging by the gloomy gray clouds that stretched over the sky, she figured this was a more-than-likely-to-occur prediction.

However, as she walked up the steps, another gloomy presence was about to become known. Sandy and her twin brother, Stan, were closing their umbrellas under the archway of the school's stoop, both not realizing that today would be a day that they would remember for the rest of their lives.

"C'mon, Sands, I just need a_ few_ answers," Stan reminded as the two walked into the building. "Why can't I just see the math homework?"

"Because," the 16-year-old Sandy Torahamu said as she started to unbutton her jacket, "you say you need a few problems but you end up copying the whole thing."

"So?"

"_So_ you should've been working on the homework instead of playing that stupid video game til 2 in the morning," Sandy explained as the two came to a halt at the end of the hallway.

"I was not playing video games," Stan objected incredulously, putting on a look of surprise that Sandy saw right through.

"Tell that to somebody who doesn't live down the hall from you," Sandy replied coolly as she turned the corner and left Stan in a frustrated mess.

Just as she turned another corner (her stretch of lockers was at the other end of the school), she bumped into someone else who clearly did not seem to know where they were going. Had it been anyone else, especially an underclassmen since everyone knew that upperclassmen ruled (muahahaha), she would've told them to watch where they were going. However, it was one of her good friends, so suddenly she felt the need to apologize.

"Sorry, Hamtaro-san!" Sandy cried as she looked down to make sure either of them hadn't dropped anything.

"No, no…it's my fault, Sandy-chan, please forgive me," the orange-haired Ham-Human replied. Sandy, hearing the boy's voice, looked up at him. His hair was soaked, like he had been caught in the rain without an umbrella, and not only that, he seemed to be sniffling, all the while keeping his eyes in a lowered position.

Despite all that, it was his voice that Sandy was most alarmed at. It made a strange, tense sound that Sandy was sure she had never heard him use before. Sandy found herself staring at the boy in a confused manner.

"Did you catch a cold, Hamtaro-san?" She asked at length.

Hamtaro ran a hand through his wet hair and winced. "Yeah, I guess I did." Just as he said that, he sniffled, and Sandy smiled. _Boys_.

"Was it the rain?" she asked. He nodded his head and Sandy felt the urge to roll her eyes. "I have to force an umbrella into Stan's hands. He can be so whiny and stubborn, and apparently, so can you."

"I…had an umbrella," the boy replied, choosing his words as he tried to fake a smile. "But actually, I think I dropped it."

"And you didn't think to pick it up?" Sandy asked. Hamtaro shrugged. "Well, I'm glad I ran into you. Was Bijou-chan on the bus this morning?" It was just as she asked this question that the real storm hit. The boy's eyes widened and the smile he was trying to put on immediately washed away. His mouth fell slightly open as he tried to figure out what to say.

"No, she wasn't," he said quickly as he stared as the strawberry-blonde. "Do you know where she is?"

"Well if she wasn't on the bus then she probably got a ride, so that means she should've arrived already," Sandy explained. "Good."

Hamtaro stared at the girl for a second with a very surprised look on his face, but Sandy took this look as confusion instead.

"Bij and I have this like killer presentation in history today and she was supposed to come in this morning to make color copies of our pamphlet," Sandy enlightened. "I should get to my locker now. I'll see you later, Hamtaro-san!" she replied cheerfully as she walked away, leaving the boy in a more shocked state than ever.

At her locker, Sandy started to unpack her belongings from her bag, and that's when she noticed the vibrating feeling. She dug deeper into her bag and found her cell phone, saying that she had one new txt message.

She opened it and was slightly surprised by what she saw:

_I won't be in school today, but I e-mailed you the pamphlets. All you need to do is make copies._

_-Bij_

Sandy felt a little mad. If Bijou wasn't in school today, then did that mean she would have to do the history presentation by herself? Sandy started to punch in a reply message to Bijou, but the homeroom bell started to ring. Sandy closed her locker a bit harder than usual and stomped off to homeroom.

-

"What are you doing, Sandy-chan?" Pashmina asked as she saw her best friend desperately dialing numbers on her phone. She leaned over her desk and saw that Sandy was typing a message on her phone.

"Haruna, Hamtaro," the teacher called.

"Here," Hamtaro said as he raised his hand. If it wasn't for his raised hand, the teacher actually wouldn't have noticed him for his voice seemed very low that morning.

"Ugh! Bijou-chan and I have big presentation today but she sent me a message saying she's not coming to school," Sandy said.

"Oooh, that's not good," Pashmina said.

"Tell me about it! And what's worse is that every time I try to send her a message, my message gets sent right back to me because it says her phone is 'not in range'. What does that mean?" Sandy asked to no one in particular as she finally snapped her phone shut.

"Koushi, Oxnard," the teacher called.

"Here!" Oxnard cried.

"Mafura, Pashmina," the teacher called.

"Here!" Pashmina replied. She turned to Sandy. "You probably won't have to present without her. That's unfair."

"Probably," Sandy said in a somewhat calmer voice. "But it's kind of unexpected, Pashy-chan. Bijou-chan is hardly ever absent."

"Yeah, I can't remember the last time she wasn't in class," Pashmina mused. "Maybe she's really sick?"

"That's probably it," Sandy replied.

"Ribon, Bijou," the teacher called. No response, so the teacher tried again. "Ribon, Bijou."

"Bijou-chan is gone," Boss said from his seat at the other end of the classroom. Just his tone of voice, that same tense sound that Hamtaro's voice had that morning, caused the class to suddenly look at the Ham-Human boy.

"Gone?" the teacher asked Boss as the rest of the class (excluding Hamtaro) exchanged somewhat surprised looks with each other.

"Yeah, she's not coming back," Boss said as he looked off to the side. The teacher, very confused, looked through the papers he had received in his school mailbox that morning. Sure enough, there was a note from the main office explaining that Bijou Ribon had pulled out of classes early that morning.

"You're right," the teacher said as he held up the note. Sandy glanced worriedly at Pashmina. Suddenly, the history presentation didn't seem to matter as much anymore.

"I guess you should learn her part for the presentation, Sandy-chan," Hamtaro said quietly from the seat diagonally in front of the girl. Sandy turned around to look at Hamtaro so quickly that she felt whiplash burning in her neck. It didn't take her long to try and piece everything together. _It wasn't a cold that made him so upset…_

"What happened, Hamtaro-san?" Sandy asked as her eyes shook.

"Is everything alright with her?" Pashmina asked him, starting to fear that something horribly bad had happened.

But it was unfortunately at that moment that the first period bell rang, and the rest of the class, however confused they were, stood up and shuffled away. Pashmina and Sandy were the last to leave, both occasionally glancing at each other and vowing to find out what actually happened.

-

By lunch that day, nearly all of the junior class had found out that Bijou Ribon was gone. After a ton of glaring and under the table kicking during math class, Boss finally revealed to Pashmina and Sandy (who sat on either side of him, making the kicks he received from both sides very painful) that Bijou had gone to France and had no plans to return.

"Stan told me he had a long talk with Hamtaro-san," Sandy said as she tapped her fingers on the lunch table nervously, completely ignoring her tray of food. "Hamtaro-san said it has something to do with him, according to Stan."

"I can't believe she would leave and not say anything to us," Pashmina cried as she nearly stabbed her juice pouch with the straw.

"Hey, guys," a new voice said as he came beside Sandy. His voice was a bit quiet, wondering how Bijou's two best friends were taking all these rumors that were flying around. So as he set his books down beside Sandy's untouched food, he stared at the two girls carefully, noticing that they did not look happy.

"Maxy," Sandy said as she stared her lime green eyes at the boy. Maxwell Librius could hardly stand to see the hurt reflected in her green pools as he sat down. "It's horrible. Did you hear?"

"Those rumors about Bijou-chan? Yeah. They sound horrible," Maxwell said quietly.

"What's even more horrible is that they're not rumors, Maxwell-san," Pashmina said. "Our homeroom teacher got a note saying that Bijou-chan won't be coming back."

"Her suddenly leaving has something to do with Hamtaro-san, and Boss-kun knows what it is. They're apparently the only two people that saw her right before she left," Sandy explained. She lowered her voice and looked around to make sure that no one else was eavesdropping.

"She _really_ cared for Hamtaro-san," Sandy said to Maxwell. "Once, she even told me that she might have been in love with him."

"That's odd," Maxwell replied, "because, well, I always thought that he had feelings for her as well."

"Are you sure? Bijou-chan kept telling us that Hamtaro-san wouldn't ever reply whenever she tried to tell him of her feelings…that he would just brush her off by saying that he loved all of his friends," Pashmina supplied.

"We'll find out soon enough what happened. I don't care if I have to beat the living cats out of Stan, since he's the one to whom Hamtaro-san told everything to," Sandy said as she put her hand over her forehead and the look on her face suddenly turned very upset.

"Are you two alright?" Maxwell asked as he saw Pashmina's face also turn into one of true sadness.

Bijou had been her, Sandy's, best friend since they met. They instantly clicked, just like she and Pashmina had when they first met. Neither of the three girls had a sister, so they always came to each other when they problems/boy news/clothes emergency, etc. The fact that Bijou was gone now suddenly made her feel like a very important part of her just vanished; it was a feeling completely unfamiliar to Sandy, as well as Pashmina, and the two of them didn't know how to handle it.

"No," Pashmina replied simply as she shook her head slightly.

"Not at all," Sandy finished as she brought her head down to rest on the tabletop.

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**Two years later**

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Sandy Librius twirled in the currently empty living room of her apartment, enjoying the feeling of the hardwood floor on her bare feet and the warmth of the sun pouring over her. What she enjoyed most of all, however, was the way the sunlight deflected off of her wedding band, making the diamonds in it shine more beautifully than ever.

Indeed, the two of them—Sandy and Maxwell—were very young, perhaps too young, when they got married, but they felt that they had found their soul mates in each other. After all, they had been going out since they were in seventh grade and had known each other well before since.

Actually, Sandy admitted as she thought to herself, it if wasn't for the trip, she and Maxwell-san would never have been married.

The trip…when Sandy first heard about it, she wanted to scream, but it had been the thing that brought her and Maxwell closer than ever.

Maxwell, proving his near-genius capabilities, had been accepted to a top-notch school, and he attended (he would start his sophomore year in the upcoming fall) however, these schools were on the other side of the world, which caused definite parting for him and Sandy.

To make matters so much worse, Maxwell had been invited by that same top-notch school to join them on a trip, normally open only to the smartest of upperclassmen that currently attended the school, to the deep forests of Japan to collect very rare plants and bring them back to the school. The school went every year on this expedition, and it was an honor to be chosen, especially if you were just an incoming sophomore!

However, if Maxwell were to go on this trip, he would have to leave in early summer and come back right before school started. And then of course, when school started, he would have to go to the other side of the world. Sandy had gone into a slight depression after hearing all of this, but Maxwell, being as brilliant as he was, decided to surprise her with the greatest gift he could think of.

So, one day, he drove her on what Sandy thought was another one of their road trips. It was just a week before he had to leave for the trip, and Sandy seemed to act rather quietly. It turned out that he actually drove her to a chapel and proposed to her right on the spot. He had given her the ring then, and he had explained to her that he had put a four-year lease on an apartment that they could share until he had to leave. After that, Sandy would live their alone until he came back for holidays and such.

Sandy was naturally afraid at first. Things just seemed to be happening so quickly, but the fact was, she agreed and they were married in the chapel that afternoon.

They moved into their apartment three days later, after much shock and anger from their parents.

Well, Sandy's parents didn't seem to mind so much. They were worried, of course, that Sandy was too young, but they had to admit that Maxwell was a very smart boy, and that he would never let anything happen to their daughter. Stan, however, was like a raging bull. He didn't believe that Maxwell had the nerve to marry his sister without _his_ consent (but he approved eventually and gave the couple his best wishes).

Maxwell's parents, on the other hand, were not pleased at all. How could their son, their brilliant, perfect son, fall in love with a girl like Sandy, and then propose to her and actually marry her? She was not as smart as him. She was going to a regular state college, nothing incredibly special like the school Maxwell was going to attend. They were horrible for each other! It was a good thing that Maxwell had his own bank account, for Maxwell's parents virtually disowned him after they found out the news. They did not speak to him nor did they accept Sandy as part of their family.

Pashmina (who nearly fainted after she found out the news) and the rest of the Ham-Humans hoped the best for the couple and even threw the couple a surprise house-warming party.

Sandy sighed in content as she walked over to the pile of gifts that lay in one corner of the living room. She picked up the tabletop waterfall that Hamtaro-san had gotten her and felt a strange emotion come over her.

She wondered how Bijou-chan would have taken the news. It had been two years, but she still found herself constantly thinking of her white-haired friend.

"Hey," Maxwell said as he appeared in the living room with a large suitcase at his side, "I think the cab's arrived outside."

Sandy immediately looked at the man and went over to the window. Sure enough, there was a yellow van parked outside.

"You're right, as always," she said with a bittersweet smile on her face as she continued staring out the window. She felt two arms on her shoulders and turned around to face him.

They hugged for what seemed like mere seconds before the two of them had to say their goodbyes.

"Try not to get bitten by one of those nasty forest bugs," Sandy said as she waved goodbye to him from the doorway of the apartment complex.

"I'll try no to," Maxwell cried as he waved goodbye to his wife. All too quickly, it seemed, he got into the cab and it moved away, leaving Sandy with a heavy heart.

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It was two weeks later that Sandy found herself in Pashmina's room and Pashmina seemed to be in love with Sandy's wedding ring.

"It's so beautiful," Pashmina said for the umpteenth time as she admired the way the piece of jewelry shined on Sandy's hand.

"You say that every time you see it," Sandy laughed as she pulled her hand away.

"Seriously, though, look at you: Married, living in a beautiful apartment. And then there's me: Single and living at home," Pashmina sighed as she rolled over on her bed.

Sandy bit her lip for a second, wondering if she should say what was on her mind. After a few seconds of debating, she glanced at her ring and attempted to ask in a casual voice, "What do you think Bijou-chan would've thought of all of this?"

Pashmina let out a disappointed and slightly frustrated sigh. She rolled over and practically glared at Sandy.

"We've been over this, Sandy-chan," Pashmina reminded.

"She could tell the carat of a jewel from a mile away," Sandy said as she stared at her ring, ignoring Pashmina.

"Cats, Sandy-chan, would you please stop thinking about her? We haven't heard from her in two years, meaning she obviously doesn't think about us," Pashmina exclaimed as she sat up.

"Forgive me, Pashy-chan; I've just been seeing the good in a lot of things lately," Sandy teased as she leaned her back against Pashmina's bed.

"Yeah I guess getting married will do that to you," Pashmina mused as she threw a pillow at the girl. Sandy laughed and threw the pillow right back. The two girls spent quite some time playing this game, and when they were done, nearly an hour later, Sandy was practically sprawled on the floor and Pashmina was laughing her heart out in the opposite corner of the room.

"We haven't done that since we were like...eight," Sandy said in between giggles.

"Promise me we'll still have moments like these, Mrs.Librius," Pashmina asked walked over to her friend. She extended her hand and Sandy grabbed it. Pashmina pulled her friend up and Sandy smiled in return.

"Of course we will. We're dorming together aren't we?" Sandy reminded. "I mean, unless you're ok commuting to school, but seeing as how it's a two hour drive…"

"Yes, definitely! You're not gonna get rid of me that easily, roommate," Pashmina as she placed her hands on her hips. She was about to add that Sandy better not snore anymore, but a soft ringing sound interrupted her. "Wait…do you hear that?"

Sandy strained her large Ham-Human ears and gasped. "It's my phone!" She ran over to Pashmina's desk and dug through her purse. "I set the volume on low because I was sleeping and my mom kept calling every two minutes to see if I needed anything…she's so paranoid that I can't take care of myself."

"Who was it?" Pashmina asked.

"I don't know," Sandy said as she stared at the unknown number. "But they left a message."

Sandy entered her voicemail. She was expecting some stupid telemarketer or something equally as ridiculous, but when she heard Mrs. Librius's—that is, Maxwell's mother's—voice on the phone, she became slightly startled.

Pashmina watched Sandy's eyes go from dull to surprised and then to panicked, all in the span of a few seconds. Her mouth opened slightly, so Pashmina figured that whatever message Sandy received couldn't have been good news.

"Umm…everything alright, Sandy-chan?" She asked as she walked over to her best friend.

Sandy shut her phone off slowly, her mouth still remaining slightly opened, and turned to the other girl as if she were in a trance of some sorts.

"It was Maxy's mom," she said quietly. "She's at our apartment right now and wants me to meet her there immediately."

"For what?" Pashmina asked.

"I don't know, but her voice sounded really upset," Sandy explained. "Pashy…what if something's wrong?"

Despite the worried feeling that Pashmina was getting in the very bottom of her stomach, she feigned the best smile she could and said, "Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing like that at all."

"I hope so," Sandy sighed. "I better go."

"Why don't you let me drive you?" Pashmina suggested. When Sandy gave her a strange look, Pashmina supplied, "It's just that you look like you're getting a little worked up, that's all!"

-

Ten minutes later, Pashmina's car pulled up in front of Sandy and Maxwell's apartment complex, and sure enough, Mrs. Librius was standing there, her back facing them. She wasn't alone. Mr. Librius, Maxwell's father, was standing there as well with a most disheartened look gracing his features.

"Hmm…why is he here?" Pashmina asked under her breath as she drummed her fingers across the steering wheel nervously.

"No idea," Sandy replied in a voice that only assured that she was getting more and more nervous by the second.

Sandy felt herself choke as she looked out the passenger side window. She actually hadn't spoken to Mrs. Librius at all since the wedding, and she knew that Mrs. Librius was not exactly her biggest fan. Mr. Librius was the first to notice the car there and he called out to his wife. Mrs. Librius turned around, her face becoming visible to the two girls in the car. Sandy was expecting that snooty look she had always received from the woman, however, she felt the hairs on her neck stand up when she saw…

"Pashy," Sandy gasped as she released her seatbelt, "she's _crying_."

Sandy immediately swung open her door and ran out to the Librius's, a horrible feeling all the while starting to envelope her.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she ran up to the woman and showed her genuine concern. Mrs. Librius had been crying significantly: large tears were rushing onto her face, flowing over the many tear stains. Her entire face was red, and she was gasping for breath in between her sobs.

"Sandy, I think we should talk inside," Mr. Librius said. His voice was strange, too. It was an odd sound that clearly was not happy.

"What happened?" Pashmina cried as she ran over to her friend. She looked at Sandy only to realize that her best friend had started to cry.

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Sandy grabbed her knees as she watched Mrs. Librius's tears hit her wooden floor. Although it had been just seconds since they had entered Sandy's apartment, the suspense and her own fears were starting to get the better of her. Still, she wiped her face from her tears and tried to put on a brave face.

"Please, will one of you tell me what happened?" Sandy asked, forcing her voice to be somewhat calm, as she watched Mr. Librius pat his wife's shoulder. The couple sat down on the couch opposite of the recliner Sandy and Pashmina had been sitting on.

"The trip..I mean, the people on that expedition Maxwell went on…they, they well alerted us," Mr. Librius started to say. He was interrupted by a rather loud sob from his wife.

"When Maxy registered for the trip he was still living with you, so I guess your phone number was the one they used," Sandy said, again forcing a collected voice, as she tried to push the conversation along.

"Right, well of course." Sandy watched as the color drained from Mr. Librius's face. "They were supposed to take a plane over the forest to get an aerial view of the land."

"I know," Sandy said. Maxwell had excitedly filled her in on the details on his trip. Her hands dug deeper into the skin on her knees.

"_My Maxwell!"_ Mrs. Librius cried as her face fell into her hands.

A nasty wind swept over Sandy as she watched the older woman shake in her seat. "What happened to Maxwell?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"There was a fog yesterday, the morning of the plane ride," Mr. Librius said quietly as he tried to hide the nervous breaks in his voice. As he continued to pat his wife's shoulders he looked at Sandy with pure grief in his eyes.

"The plane crashed."

It hurt like a bolt of lightning had struck her into a trillion little pieces. She heard Pashmina-chan beside her gasp. She was expecting the worst, but not Sandy. No. She, on the other hand, pushed away the emotional explosion within her and looked for the ray of light.

"But everyone's ok, right? There were no reported deaths," Sandy said shakily just as Mrs. Librius cried out again.

"No, Sandy-" Mr. Librius started to say.

"The school goes on this trip every year. It's just a trip. Just a trip! No one gets hurt," Sandy started to say despite all the tears that were streaming down her heart-shaped face.

"They recovered some bodies," Mr. Librius said as his hands started to shake. He let go of his wife's shoulder and took off his glasses and he clutched them in his palms.

"But not Maxwell's, right?" Sandy asked as she gulped. She felt Pashmina grab her hand, her ice cold hand, in an effort to comfort her.

Mrs. Librius, at Sandy's words, just started to sob more and more.

"Sandy," Mr. Librius said as he wiped some tears away from his eyes. "Maxwell's was the first body they found."

Sandy pressed her lips together and nodded.

And then it all went black.

-

-

The first thing Sandy heard was a soft beeping sound. It was continuous and wouldn't go away, no matter how hard she dug her head into her pillow.

Pillow? She felt her hand reach around her head and grab the feathery softness of her pillow. That's when it hit her.

This had all been a dream! Some twisted, horrible, evil dream! That's all!

She felt excitement and happiness and an overall good feeling surround her as her eyes shot open. She didn't need to think twice before she sat up and prepared herself for a new day so that she could forget all about that nightmare.

But as she sat up and looked around, she noticed that she was not in her bedroom. And what she was lying on was too small to be her bed. She looked around. There were her friends in this room, staring at her. She rubbed the tiredness from her eyes and saw them clearly.

Stan was sitting in a chair right beside her bed. Pashmina-chan was sitting on the bed she was lying on, and the rest of her friends—from Hamtaro-san all the way to little Penelope—were in the room with her, standing around her bed with strange expressions on their faces.

She felt something prick her right wrist. When she pulled it up to her, she realized there was an IV needle there.

"That's just to sedate you, Sands," Stan explained as she stared at the needle. Sandy looked at him and wanted to respond, but as she opened her mouth she felt something brush against her lips. She put her hand up to her mouth: There was an airtube in her nose. There were also wires on her chest, beneath some strange white gown.

"That was to make sure you were getting enough oxygen," Hamtaro-san said very quietly.

"Your breathing wasn't exactly steady when we first brought you in," Pashmina said softly as she patted Sandy's leg, which was covered by the light blue sheets of this strange bed. Sandy looked to her left and saw that a monitor was beeping beside her. This monitor was connected to wires on her chest. The screen displayed spikes which she noticed went up high as she inhaled.

"You're in the hospital," Pashmina said very gently, causing Sandy to turn her head to the girl. Sandy tried to study the girl's face. It wasn't happy at all. In fact, when the light hit her, the tear stains could clearly be made out on her fair skin.

Sandy wanted to speak, but she found her mouth was very dry. Before she even had to ask, she found a hand extending a glass of water to her.

"The doctor said that the sedative would give you a bit of dry mouth," Panda-san said as Sandy gratefully took the cup from him. "There's more water by the table over there, so if you ever need some more…"

Sandy found herself gulping down the water. When she was done Stan took the cup from her and placed it on the table beside her.

"Why am I here?" she had to clear her throat after she realized how tired and low her voice had sounded.

Every Ham-Human in that room, excluding Sandy, exchanged looks with each other. It was subtle, but Sandy still noticed the way their eyes nervously turned to one another.

"You fainted yesterday," Pashmina said, once again speaking very softly. "When we brought you in, your blood pressure was…well, it was almost morbidly high, so the doctors sedated you and decided to keep you over night. They also had to do a couple of blood tests, but they don't think it's anything too serious."

"Why'd I faint?" Sandy asked, wanting so badly to believe that she had just woken up from that horrible dream. Once again, everyone in the room darted their eyes to anything but Sandy. She felt somebody grab her left wrist, and she looked over to see the face of her brother.

"It was..." Stan trailed off, trying to gain the courage to tell her. "While the Librius's visited you. Right after they told you…"—Sandy had already started shaking her head vigorously as she felt the tears run out of her eyes—"about Maxwell-san."

Sandy jerked her hand away from Stan and brought them up to her face. She Heard Pashmina-chan tell the rest of the Ham-Humans, Stan, to leave the room to give her room to breathe. Every hot tear that hit her hurt so much. She felt herself break into pieces all over again as she accepted the reality…

…it was no nightmare…

"I'm so sorry, Sands," Stan said as he stood up and tried to hug his sister. But she just pulled away into herself and brought her knees up to her chest, trying in a hopeless effort to collect herself.

"There's no need to be sorry," Sandy said defiantly as she lifted her head and looked at Stan. "They don't know if Maxwell was on that plane. It could've just been another student who looked like him. Maxy's alive, I know he is," she explained in between her sobs.

"I wish that were true, I really do," Pashmina said as she got up and walked over to Sandy's other side.

"You don't know that it's not, Pashy. I have a connection with him that you don't. I know he's alive!" Sandy exclaimed.

"Sandy-chan, they…the policemen investigating the crash…they e-mailed the picture of the body of the boy they thought was Maxwell to his parents. We all saw it this morning," Pashmina said as the area around her eyes became red and puffy.

"And?" Sandy demanded.

Pashmina didn't need to say anything. Just the way more tears started to fall from her eyes said it all. And then Sandy turned to her brother, but by the way he shook his head as she looked at him she realized it herself. Sandy felt her fists grab the sheets. She could feel her nails dig into her palms even through the cloth as she shook her head.

"Leave. JUST LEAVE!!!" she cried as she pressed back against the end of the hospital bed.

"You have to remain calm… you're blood pressure-" Stan started to say.

"I DON'T CARE! _LEAVE_!!!!" Sandy cried even more loudly. Stan and Pashmina looked at each other. They decided not to try and relax her in this state, so the two of them left without another word.

Just moments after Pashmina and Stan left, a woman who Sandy assumed was the doctor judging by her white coat came in followed by the Librius's (Mrs. Librius's face was still very red from crying and she was carrying a large handkerchief in her hands which she was using very frequently).

"I don't want to talk with anyone," Sandy said tersely before anyone could say a word as she quickly dried her eyes. Nevertheless, the three people surrounded her bed.

"We need to talk about your test results, Sandy," the doctor said as she sat down in the chair that Stan had been sitting in just moments earlier. "I'm Dr. Satomi, by the way," she said as she read through papers in a metal clipboard.

"If we're going to discuss that then can't they leave," Sandy said as her head nodded slightly in the direction of the Librius's.

"They're here to talk about the results, actually, and they demanded that they be allowed to talk with you," Dr. Satomi explained as she sighed and looked at Sandy.

"They know the results of my test?"

"Unfortunately, Mr. Librius has a good friend who works in the blood lab and, against hospital policy, he found out," Dr. Satomi said quietly.

"Found out what?" Sandy asked. It felt like a stone was thrown onto her stomach as she became worried. "There's nothing wrong with me, is there?" she asked, very panicked. She wasn't sure how she could handle more bad news, not after this. The wound were still so incredibly fresh from the news she had received yesterday…

"No, there's nothing wrong," the doctor said in a very reassuring voice as she stood up and came beside Sandy. "It's just that, Mrs. Librius, you're pregnant. Just about two weeks, actually."

At first, Sandy thought she had heard wrong. She looked down at her stomach. She certainly didn't feel pregnant, not at all.

"But that's impossible," Sandy told the doctor. "I was using birth control. And besides that… I'm way too young to be a mother!"

"You have to remember, Mrs. Librius, that birth control is only at best around ninety-eight percent effective," the doctor said.

"And I wholeheartedly agree about you being too young to be a mother," Maxwell's mother said. She looked at her husband and, after dabbing some tears away from her eyes, she said. "We think we should raise Maxwell's child."

"Could you give us a moment?" Mr. Librius asked the doctor.

Dr. Satomi, realizing the family struggle that was about to occur, nodded before she added, "I'll be right outside the door. We still have to talk about your blood pressure."

Sandy once again could not believe what she was hearing. Once again, those stupid tears fell from her eyes as she took in what reality was giving her.

"I…just found out about the child. I don't even know -" Sandy started to say.

"Well, you can't possibly think that you're not going to carry the pregnancy to term!" Mrs. Librius cried as more and more tears fell from her puffy eyes. "This is Maxwell's child!"

"I never said I wouldn't carry the child to term," Sandy replied as she tried uselessly to wipe her tears with her arm. "What I was going to say that I don't know where to go from here."

"Well, that's why we think we'd be better guardians for the baby," Mr. Librius said as Mrs. Librius went into one corner of the room to wipe her face. "We have better financial resources, not to mention more experience. You're still so young and have school."

"But you can't think that I would just hand over my child to you!" Sandy cried. "And I-I…I don't need school! Or I can be a part-time college student," she stammered.

"But you don't have the money to support a child. Maxwell's back account was still under our family account at the time of his …accident," Mrs. Librius cried as she came over to Sandy. She dabbed her eyes furiously with her handkerchief as she said. "He didn't have time to write a will." At that point her voice cracked and she was sobbing all over again.

"What she means to say is that his money was transferred back to us, and everything that he was paying for with that money, including his car and his apartment," Mr. Librius said as he took over.

Her heart was breaking again. This was too much. How could so much agony be put on one person? First the news about Maxwell, and now, it just seemed as if the Librius's were getting joy out of adding insult to the injury that shared with her.

"Then take his money," Sandy sobbed. "But you can't have my child. I'll find a way. There's widow's insurance."

"Dear, you know that can't possibly be enough to support yourself and a young child," Mr. Librius said. "Maybe when you get more rest you'll see that what we're saying makes the most sense. You're young. Go out and enjoy the rest of your life, and we'll take good care of our grandchild."

"This baby is a blessing! It's a little piece of my son! The child deserves to grow up where it will be the happiest," Mrs. Librius said after she finished drying her tired eyes.

"That's with its mother!" Sandy cried. All of a sudden, she heard the monitor beside her beep louder and more frequently. Dr. Satomi immediately came in. She noticed the monitor and immediately went over to a drawer beside the machine. She pulled out an injection and after walking over to the other side of the bed, she started putting it into Sandy's IV bag.

"Mr. and Mrs. Librius, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Dr. Satomi said. Although hesitantly, they did leave, giving Sandy a chance to talk with the doctor alone.

"What's wrong?" Sandy asked.

"I'm giving you a fast-acting sedative. Your blood pressure is peaking dangerously again," the doctor said. "It's not healthy at all for the child, so you need to find a way to keep the stress off of you."

Sandy looked away from the doctor. She could feel her eyelids get heavier.

"I know about your husband, and I'm very sorry. But if you remain upset, and then let stress take over, you're killing your unborn child," Dr. Satomi said.

Sandy grabbed her stomach as she closed her eyes. "I can't let that happen. It's the last piece of him I have left."

-

-

Three weeks later, Sandy was in her bedroom, packing everything on her side of the closet into the open suitcases on her bed.

She was in a trance, she thought. She just hadn't been able to think clearly at all in three weeks. Not a moment passed that she didn't think of him and nor did a night pass that she didn't cry her eyes out instead of sleeping.

But she was trying. Really. Pashmina came over everyday since she was released from the hospital about two weeks ago. They would go out for lunch and then maybe see a movie or do shopping. Sandy needed that. She couldn't focus on the bad things.

And everyday, Stan would bring a new gift for the baby. In fact, today's gift was a set of yellow and green blankets that came with matching pairs of yellow and green booties. Sandy looked at the gifts. They were lying there, so precious, on the other side of the bed.

She felt a tear on her face, and by instinct, she immediately wiped it away.

She hadn't been gaining weight, but then again the baby had to be about the size of a pea at the moment.

"Soon," she said as she touched her stomach. "I'll be so big, but it'll be so worth it. You and me. It'll be tight, but you'll have so many aunts and uncles who will love you like there's no tomorrow. And they'll tell you about your father, about how wonderful he was, and you will be so incredibly proud of him."

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door.

"It's open," she called out as she walked over to her closet.

"Sandy-chan," she heard Hamtaro-san's voice echoing throughout her empty apartment. "Wow I can't believe how open this place looks without any furniture," he said as he walked into her bedroom with a gift-wrapped package in his hands.

"Well, Maxy bought all the furniture with his money, so his parents just returned it to the store. They just left twenty minutes ago with the whole dining room, actually. The bedroom goes in a couple of days," she said as she dumped a dress of hers into one of her suitcases.

"You look great," Hamtaro said as he sat down on an empty corner of her bed. Sandy, deciding that she could save the packing for later, sat down beside him. "My mother wanted me to tell you that she had never heard a speech like the one you gave at the funeral. It brought my dad to tears, actually. The only other thing in the world that can do that is chili peppers."

Sandy smiled. "Thank you, Hamtaro-san."

"Do you need any help packing?" Hamtaro asked. Sandy shook her head.

"No…it's only really my clothes that I'm taking back to my parent's house," she explained.

"Are you returning to school?" Hamtaro asked. Once again, Sandy shook her head.

"It's bad enough that my parents need to help me pay for the baby. The added burden of tuition is too much for them," Sandy said as she traced the pattern of her bed sheet with her finger.

"So then it's true that the Librius's aren't helping at all with the baby?" Hamtaro asked indignantly. "I couldn't believe it so I have to hear it from you."

"They either want to raise the child by themselves or don't want anything to do with it at all." Sandy tried to change the topic. "What's in your hands, anyway?" she asked as she nodded at the gift in Hamtaro-san's hands.

"Oh, I completely forget about this. Here," Hamtaro said as he gave the gift to Sandy. "It's actually a gift for you and the baby."

Sandy unwrapped the gift and stared at it. "A scent blanket?" she asked as she read the label.

"Yeah, it's really cool! You're supposed to sleep with it for a couple of weeks so that your scent rubs onto the blanket, and then when the baby is born, you're supposed to give the blanket to the baby. Your scent will help it fall asleep faster."

"That's so sweet, Hamtaro-san, thank you!" Sandy said as she put the blanket onto the pile of the other gifts. "You know these gifts are really saving me a ton of money, and I need all the help I can get in that department."

Hamtaro looked away and Sandy became confused. He looked as if he really wanted to say something but was forcing it back.

"Everything alright?" Sandy asked as she watched Hamtaro's expression.

Hamtaro smiled to himself. "I should be asking you that. Listen, I've been thinking…there's no reason you should give up school."

Sandy's eyes softened as she was once again reminded that she would not be able to return to school in the fall. "Hamtaro-san, my family just can't afford a new child with the tuition of a university. Besides, the money will be going to something more worth it."

"What if you could go to school and raise this child in a wonderful life?" Hamtaro asked.

"I'd have to win the lottery for that, Hamtaro-san," Sandy said, trying to keep herself from getting upset.

"No, you don't, Sandy-chan," Hamtaro replied, looking Sandy straight in the eyes.

"Heke? I don't follow, Hamtaro-san," Sandy said as she tried to understand.

"Sandy-chan…" Hamtaro stood up and started to pace the small bedroom. "When I get married, I'm promised an inheritance. It's actually a really good amount of money. _Really good_. And well, if I'm not married that money just sits in a bank vault and gathers dust."

Sandy stood up and walked over to the orange and white-haired Ham-Human. "What are you suggesting, exactly, Hamtaro-san?"

Hamtaro looked at the girl. "Sandy-chan, I think we should get married."

"Are you feeling alright, Hamtaro-san? Did you bump your head?" Sandy-asked as she tried touching his head to feel for any lumps. She then backed away as he shook his head.

"No, no, Sandy-chan! Just think about what I'm saying. I can give you all that money, but I need to be married for that money to be transferred to my bank account. And the money can help you so much! It'll let you _buy_ a nice apartment and go to school and let the baby grow up with everything it'll ever need!" Hamtaro explained. When he saw the look on Sandy's face, he quickly supplied. "We don't have to live like a married couple at all! No! No! No! We'll be roommates and I'll help take care of the child!"

Sandy could not answer. This offer certainly did sound so good. The ability to finish school and raise her child the way she wanted it to be raised…but that would mean marrying Hamtaro-san, and that would be the biggest sacrifice for him.

"I can't," Sandy answered, stepping farther away from him. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Sandy-chan," Hamtaro said, "Think about this, it could do you so much good. And I'm not getting married to anyone anytime soon, that's for sure. This is the best thing I can do for you."

"But I can't! It's…ridiculous, ludicrous, just downright _absurd_!"

"It's not, really! Just think of it as a friendly gesture. We'll get divorced anytime you want and you'll get to keep the money," Hamtaro explained.

"Please, Hamtaro-san. I cannot ask so much of you."

"…" He didn't answer. He wanted to tell her that it was nothing for him. He really wanted to, but he knew that would be a lie.

"You needn't help me. I can make do," She lied. Hamtaro knew very well she wasn't telling the truth. She had just admitted this to him!

"The baby will need a father." This made Sandy think. A father figure would be…perfect. A factor she thought wouldn't be possible.

Sandy paused… She spoke only two words, "Bijou-chan."

Hamtaro looked up, surprised. Why did she bring _her_ up?

"It's lovely, ne?" Hamtaro asked, staring straight at the woman. "If it's a girl, I think that will make a fine name." He was changing the subject, and Sandy had to respect that.

"You'll never stop waiting for her, will you?" she asked.

"Nope. I don't see how I can."

Sandy came closer to Hamtaro, diminishing the distance between them. "Well then, I guess I'll wait with you."

"So that's a yes?" Hamtaro asked. Sandy looked away. "Ok, you probably need more time," he admitted to himself more than her.

"Not exactly, Hamtaro-san…the offer is so generous and it sounds wonderful," Sandy said as she thought.

"Here comes the 'but'," Hamtaro sighed as he watched the girl mull it over.

"It's just that this happened really fast…ok," Sandy sat down on her bed. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, I've never been surer of anything. I want to do this for you. Why not let me help you?" he asked as he sat down with her.

She looked at him. "I-I, guess I accept," she said finally.

"It doesn't have to be a big wedding," Hamtaro said. "It can be a court marriage. Or anything you want. I just want you to be ok."

Sandy bit her lip and thought about what had just occurred in the span of a few moments.

"Thanks to you, everything's going to be ok," Sandy said. She turned to Hamtaro and hugged him as tightly as she could. "It's going to be ok!"

"Exactly," Hamtaro said as he returned her hug.

-

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**Three years later**

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"And do you see what he did for me? What he gave up for me? The kindness he offered?" Sandy asked as she wiped more and more tears away from her face.

"Maxwell, _cats_, Sandy-chan, I had no idea," Bijou cried as tears fell freely from her eyes. "_My god._" Bijou buried her face in her hands and felt the warm tears wet her palms.

"It was nice, actually," Sandy mused as she remembered the early days of her marriage to Hamtaro. "He and I went to separate colleges, but he used his money to buy an apartment for me to live on right next to campus. And he would visit almost every weekend…It was like that until we graduated a few months ago and moved into the house we live in now." At Sandy's words, Bijou looked up, a sense of realization washing over her.

"Little Bijou…she's brilliant, just like her father. Oh I should've seen it earlier!" Bijou looked away. She couldn't help but shake her head. "I thought that you and Hamtaro…"

"I know what you thought," Sandy said as she stood up from the chair and walked over to Bijou. "He never forgot about you," she said in a voice that Bijou immediately picked up on. As Sandy sat down on the bed, she sighed. "His love. All that wonderful energy is still waiting for you. He sort of lent it to Little Bijou and me for a while, but it always belonged to you."

The hotel room was getting smaller for Bijou as she heard Sandy speak. Her emerald green eyes widened in shock as she finally realized what had been going on. She knew it now. The full story, even more than what Sandy was letting on.

"So, Sandy-chan, when did this happen?" Bijou asked quietly as she stood up and walked to the other side of the hotel room.

"When did what happen, Bijou-chan?" Sandy asked, completely confused. "Didn't I just explain everything to you?"

Bijou was at the desk in the small room. She drummed her fingers across the surface of the dark wood as she took a deep breath. This was a lot to take in for one sitting. She turned around to face Sandy, still sitting on the bed.

Her eyes were shaking slightly as she asked.

"When did you fall in love with Hamtaro-san?"

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My internet was gone for weeks! You would've gotten this chapter days ago!

It was a little rushed, I know, but I wanted to update this so badly I felt I had to rush this a little in the end.

So you finally got to see what happened. See, I didn't exactly want to write a wedding for Sandy and her first husband, but I felt writing that they were married was necessary because I wasn't sure how my readers would feel by them having a child without being married (there is still a PG rating on this).

There are about 2 chapters left. I'm really going to miss this fic.

Normally I put a short poem at the end of every three chapters, but not this time. This time I think everything speaks for itself. And wow this is twenty-one pages long. Ok that's gotta be the longest chapter yet.

So please review!

**I do now own Hamtaro.**


	10. Chuujitsu

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**Bijou**

The day had been filled with enough surprises to last her a lifetime…Every bit of her day, from the moment she had seen Hamtaro with his "daughter" to this moment, right here, in her hotel room which was shrinking every second….

…had in store for her a new twist…

Finding about Maxwell had taken the last bit of energy from her. Bijou, despite her sniffling to suppress her tears, was leaving tearstains on the surface of the room's desk. She was a wreck; she had been all day.

Actually, she had been for five years, but today seemed to be the culmination of all that.

Sandy's mouth was open, the same kind of look a girl would don anytime one of her most intimate secrets was thrown in front of the world for everyone to see. This confirmed Bijou's thoughts, as well as crushed her heart.

The way the strawberry blonde's eyes—those incredibly beautiful lime orbs—shook as she stared at her once best friend…She couldn't help but wonder, how much had honestly changed in five years?

Sandy stood up and approached Bijou tentatively, as if Bijou were some sort of endangered prey and Sandy was the curious naturalist. Bijou didn't appreciate this look, and she wanted authority in this situation.

"You…you haven't answered my question, Sandy," Bijou replied as she rubbed a long, white finger against one of her eyes. She remained still as Sandy approached.

The look on Sandy's face…oh, she must have thought Bijou were insane. More tears fell from Bijou's eyes. Perhaps the French girl _had _gone way past her emotional limit. The day had been filled with one surprising slap in the face after another…

Bijou hated surprises.

Bijou's most recent realization was one of the worst surprises yet…But it wouldn't be so bad if Sandy simply admitted it.

The way the girl's eyes glimmered with hope as she talked about Hamtaro and the way her voice became softer, so much gentler, as she spoke of the orange-and-white-haired man, Bijou knew. It was so obvious, and it was so painful at the same time. Bijou would have that same glimmer in _her_ eyes and _she_ would get that same, gentle voice, but that was an eternity ago. It was when she was sixteen and she hadn't left. It was all before she lost hope.

"I'm not in love with him, Bijou-chan," Sandy explained as she came to the other girl. "Like I said, he's always been in love with you."

Bijou smiled weakly as she shook her head. Her white bangs fell into her face and Bijou sighed.

"That doesn't mean that you weren't allowed to love him."

Sandy looked at the girl curiously, wanting her point to be heard. "No, Bijou-chan-"

"I guess it's expected," Bijou sighed. "He's your husband after all…you raised Little Bijou together. You lived with him for all this time, so how am I to expect that you didn't grow _some_ sort of attachment to him?"

"But I'm not in love with him," Sandy protested. "I've always…thought of him as a friend."

However, Sandy hesitated in those last words, and Bijou's suspicions were just reaffirmed.

Bijou closed her eyes and let her thoughts settle for a moment. They were swirling like whirlwinds within the confines of her mind, and she had to make it just stop. She took a deep breath and released it, all the while wringing her hands together like a cloth. As she reopened them, she looked straight into the bright green eyes of her best friend.

"It would be better if you just accepted it, because it would make your life so much easier, and an easy life is exactly what I want for you and Hamtaro-san."

Sandy's eyes stood still.

"Bijou-chan?"

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**Hamtaro**

Hamtaro took a moment to just reflect on all that kept happening this day. The way he had slammed on the hood of his first love's car, referring to her by her first name…

…did she now understand what all of this meant? How these five years seemed like a depression, but today, as much as he didn't want to admit, everything bad just washed away when he saw her figure standing in front of her family's old house.

"Father?"

The very reason these past five years hadn't sent him into depression was staring at him intently. The two of them were sitting on an ornate, pillowy bench in the hotel's lobby. Little Bijou was kicking her legs excitedly as they swung in the air. She had been previously pre-occupied with trying to make the microphone Bijou had given her to turn on. Luckily, she hadn't figured that out, or else Hamtaro would have had another problem on his hands.

Or would he? To get Little Bijou to obey, it didn't take much. A simple warning in a reassuring voice, and the girl would understand and cease her actions immediately. She knew what the smarter course of action was. She was brilliant, Hamtaro noted, just like her father.

She resembled Maxwell incredibly. She had his chestnut-brown hair. It fell around her head in thick bangs that rested against her shoulders (and went just a little past into her back). Even the color of her eyes…when Hamtaro would look at a picture Sandy had of her first husband, Maxwell's eyes were the first thing he'd see. Their color reflected in Little Bijou's eyes, just like his intelligence did through every figment of her body.

Hamtaro wondered if Maxwell would approve of the name he had given the girl…He originally wasn't serious about naming the girl Bijou, but Sandy insisted that it was the name that she wanted for her daughter.

However, Hamtaro could never bring himself to call his daughter Bijou. It would remind him, every time he called his daughter's name, of that day five years ago when a piece of him left to fly off to France.

"Are you gonna miss her?" Little Bijou asked. Her eyes held his gaze strongly. She probably wanted a yes or no answer, but by the way her voice had become slightly low, Hamtaro realized that she had a brief idea of the severity of the situation.

Hamtaro put a hand in his daughter's hair and ruffled it. With his eyes falling ever so slightly from her face, Hamtaro admitted, "Yes, I am."

He looked up to see her reaction. She had an incredibly small smile on her face.

"Well, of course you are. You loved her, right?"

"No, Little Bijou," Hamtaro said as he continued looking at the girl.

Little Bijou's head shifted a little as her eyes widened. Not used to getting much wrong, she felt the need to justify herself.

"But, mother said she was the only girl you ever loved!" Her voice was the indignant kind a child would use when asking why they couldn't open their Christmas presents a night early.

"…She was wrong," Hamtaro explained softly, ruffling the girl's hair again as he sighed.

"So you didn't love her…" Despite her intelligence, there was only so much a little girl could take before giving in. If her father didn't love Big Bijou, then there was so much she was confused about.

"No," Hamtaro said as he leaned back against the lobby's wall, removing his hand from the girl's hair.

"Oh." It was as if someone had told her Santa Claus wasn't real. She leaned back against the wall and decided to preoccupy herself with the microphone.

"I still do."

-

-

-

-

-

**Bijou**

"You want an easy life for Hamtaro-san… and me?" Sandy asked.

Bijou nodded. "It's the least you deserve after what you've been through over the past few years."

"But don't you want…" Sandy wasn't sure how to finish the sentence. She just stared at the French girl quizzically.

"Forget about me. I'll be gone before you know it, anyway," Bijou explained, feigning a smile.

"But you love him!" Sandy exclaimed as her hands clenched at her sides.

"That didn't stop me from leaving before." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Sandy was torn. How to get Bijou to stay—satisfying what she knew was Hamtaro's wish—while keeping her own happiness in mind. These thoughts made Sandy feel selfish…but what else was she supposed to do?

Their life, though very unorthodox, had been steady over the past few years. In a good financial situation, good house, amazing husband, genius daughter…It was all so perfect.

But when _she_ came back…The moment sandy had found out she had returned…

Sandy knew that this wasn't going to be an easy day.

And she knew Bijou was right. It wasn't exactly a secret to Sandy, but it felt weird when someone else told her that they saw it, too. She couldn't admit it, though…it would just crush Bijou's spirits even more. She didn't know if she could do that.

The strawberry-blonde took a deep, deep breath. She was going to tell Bijou the truth.

"I-"

She was cut off. Both girls turned to the room's door where a knock had interrupted Sandy.

Bijou walked over to the door and looked through the hole. After noting who it was, she unlocked the door and let them in.

Little Bijou ran to her mother's leg while Hamtaro stood in the doorway patiently.

"Hamtaro-san?" Sandy asked. Bijou's eyes lowered. She was still standing behind the door, holding it open, and she thought about just leaving. Once again, she was the piece that didn't belong.

"I need to talk to Bijou. May I?" the man asked, completely ignoring Bijou's angered expression as he did so.

Sandy mulled it over. Out of all the people Bijou probably wanted to see when she returned to Japan, Hamtaro was the most important.

But the thought of Hamtaro and Bijou alone together made Sandy's heart squeeze in an uncomfortable way.

Sandy's smile was too wide for it to be real, but no one felt the need to point out her obvious saddened disposition.

"Alright, Hamtaro-san. Come on, Little Bijou."

With that said, the woman walked with all the dignity she could muster to the door and through it with Little Bijou happily following in her footsteps with a slight skip in her step. Bijou closed the door with a little frustration.

She then turned to Hamtaro.

"Bijou," Hamtaro said, dropping the honorific suffix.

"Hamtaro-san," Bijou responded, maintaining their figurative distance.

"So Sandy-chan told you about Maxwell and the Librius's?" He asked as he watched her carefully.

What she was just told about Maxwell almost made Bijou cry again, but she tried desperately and succeeded in maintaining her posture.

"Yes," she nodded.

Hamtaro looked down. Perhaps coming to talk to her wasn't such a good idea. Little Bijou had thought it was, though. This was the last time he took advice from a three-year-old.

"You did a good thing, for Sandy I mean. You gave her everything when she needed it the most," Bijou told him. She smiled at the thought. There was something about it…her smile was sincere.

"Thank you for that. For helping her," She continued. "But I guess I couldn't expect any less from you." She took a deep breath and then let it out. "Selfless to the bone. That's exactly what you always were, and still are."

Hamtaro was confused. A minute ago, she seemed furious that he wanted to talk to her. Now, she was complimenting him?

"You would've found a way to help her if you were there," Hamtaro reminded. "You were her best friend, after all."

"But I wasn't there. I was faraway, and it was my choice to leave, which brings me to what's happened in the past few years…"

The girl shook with goose bumps a little as she collected her thoughts. Hamtaro came closer to her. When he stopped, he was merely a few inches in front of her.

His mind kept telling him to hold her, to make her feel stable. But he couldn't reach out to her. Not literally, anyway.

"You've built a perfect life for yourself. Don't throw away what you have had with Sandy for the past three years because you've seen me for a day," Bijou explained.

Hamtaro looked down again. As his eyes resurfaced, he said, "I don't love her. At least, not the way a husband should love his wife."

"Then try, Hamtaro-san, please… try."

"I love you." His voice hadn't sounded so confident in years. "I knew I did a week ago, a year ago, five years ago…And it was my fault that I didn't understand what you meant when you told me those very same words."

Bijou looked down. She remained quiet and unnaturally still.

"I love you, Bijou."

She brought her eyes up again. There was no denying that they—if only for a brief moment—looked happy. Her smile came back, too. She looked happy.

"I love you, too, Hamtaro."

Hamtaro came closer to her, trying to embrace the girl. But she immediately moved, away from the door and away from him.

Hamtaro turned to see what she was up to. As he came closer to her, she stepped backwards.

"What are you doing, Bijou?"

He came closer, she stepped away. He wasn't sure if she was somehow being coy or was just avoiding him. He figured it was the latter, though he couldn't be sure of why.

"I can't ever let us grow any closer than we are now, Hamtaro-san."

-

-

**Sandy**

Sandy pressed her back against the hallway wall and felt like crying. She squeezed her eyes together to stop the tears.

What could two people who loved each other be doing in a hotel room, anyway?

This thought made Sandy want to knock on the door and pull her husband out. Yes. _Her_ husband. What right did Bijou have to him?

And would he really be willing to give up their life together for the sake of Bijou?

"Mother," Little Bijou said as she watched the woman. "You should really stop crying."

"Not now, sweetie," Sandy replied. She pressed her back even harder against the door and let herself slide down. She fell on the floor with a thud and let her head fall onto her knees.

"Big Bijou told me it was good to let out your feelings and that I shouldn't keep them inside, but mother, I don't like seeing you cry." The little girl patted her mother's hair.

"There, there, mother. It will be alright. Father and Big Bijou are going to get married, and then they can live happily ever after!"

Sandy looked up. "We don't know that they're going to get married."

Little Bijou thought. "But they love each other. That means they _have_ to get married, right mother?"

Sandy looked away from her daughter. She wanted to say not necessarily. She wanted to tell her daughter that Hamtaro couldn't just leave them. It wasn't fair.

But she didn't say anything. Rather, she put her head down on her knees once again and shrugged.

Little Bijou went back to the microphone in her hands.

"I think I'd like to sing at their wedding. That sounds like fun. Mother, maybe you can dance at the wedding?! You like to dance right? It'll be fun, mother. I can imagine it now. Except maybe Big Bijou shouldn't wear a white dress because her hair is white and she'll look like she was in the snow for too long. Or maybe that's a good thing? Hmm mother?"

-

-

**Bijou**

"I can't stay and ruin the life you have now," Bijou explained as she sighed.

"You're not going to ruin anything," Hamtaro reminded. "How many times do I need to tell you that?"

Bijou walked around to the far edge of her bed and sat down.

"That's what you think, Hamtaro-san. Have you asked your wife?"

"About?" Hamtaro asked as he sat down on the bed with her.

"_About_? What do you think?" Bijou slapped his hand like she used to when they were teenagers whenever he said something silly.

"She's not just going to let you walk out of this family that you have made with her," Bijou sighed. "And I don't think you should, either."

"But I told you, I don't love her. And she'll get all the money we have after the divorce. It's not like I'll be leaving her with nothing." Hamtaro seemed a little indignant.

"She doesn't want the money, though," Bijou explained.

"No, I guess. She's not a materialistic person," Hamtaro thought aloud.

"Then do you know what she wants?" the girl asked. "Why she wouldn't want you to leave her?"

"No," he replied without a second thought. Bijou felt the shaking some sense into the man. How could he be so amazingly dumb sometimes?

Bijou turned and looked at the window. She tried to hear if the thunderstorm had ceased. It sounded like there was no rain…

…_but…_

"Hamtaro-san, Sandy…she loves you."

…_just as she said that…_

A large bolt of lightning illuminated the room.

For a millisecond, Bijou's eyes were light green as the lightning filled the entire room with a burst of light. They seemed pained. Hamtaro's widened.

As the lightning struck, his eyes were locked on Bijou as he tried to comprehend her words. As the light left the room, Hamtaro looked away, trying to get his thoughts into one place.

"Sandy," Hamtaro said her name as if it were some sort of foreign word. He tried to recall his most recent memories of the girl. He never got the vibe that she was in love with him. Then again, he reminded himself, even when a girl told him she loved him he didn't get the romantic undertone.

"I was considering staying before I realized how much she cared for you. Then I decided that I couldn't break a happy home," Bijou explained.

Hamtaro turned his eyes toward the girl. "So you're leaving?"

Bijou nodded. "On the first flight out tomorrow."

"But you barely got a chance to catch up with everyone!"

Bijou stood up. She had enough of people trying to change her mind and convince her what was best for her. She had decided what she needed to do five years ago, and she was going to decide now.

"You should leave."

Hamtaro stood up as well. He looked down at the girl.

"Please leave," Bijou said.

'I can't just leave you now," Hamtaro said. "We need to talk about so much."

The boy grabbed her shoulder and looked straight into her eyes. Bijou, however, almost instantly shook him off and walked over to the room's door.

"Leave."

"Bijou, this is ridiculous," Hamtaro said as he walked over to her. "There's so much to say."

"Not really, Hamtaro-san," Bijou replied. "Now leave or I'll call security."

-

-

**Sandy**

Sandy nearly got a whiplash from turning her head so quickly. She was not expecting the door to open, but sure enough, it did. She stood up.

She heard Hamtaro's voice. He was clearly trying to plead something to Bijou. However, within a few seconds, Hamtaro walked out of the door, and as soon as he was out of the room, the door slammed quickly behind him.

"Father!" Little Bijou exclaimed. She yawned. "Let's go home, father."

Hamtaro looked at his daughter and nodded. Then he looked at Sandy.

She was looking at him expectantly, unsure if the news was good or bad. She was biting her lip, and he could make out tear stains on her heart-shaped face.

Sandy was asking him what happened without speaking. Hamtaro looked down. That was enough for Sandy.

Sandy took in a sharp breath of air.

"It'll be alright, Hamtaro-san," she said to the man she loved so very dearly. It was evident in her voice, and even Hamtaro picked up on it. She didn't seem glad that Bijou was leaving, but her voice wasn't exactly depressed either. And to be perfectly honest, Hamtaro didn't blame her. She was entitled feelings and she was entitled happiness.

However, Hamtaro thought, he was entitled his happiness, too, and he would do anything to get it back.

-

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-

-

-

**Bijou**

The wait in the airport terminal was brutal. She'd do anything to just board the plane and go, without the agony of extra time. With extra time just came extra, unwanted thoughts.

That's why she was glad she had a book. Though, the book didn't distract her enough. Of all the stupid choices she had ever made, choosing a romance book to read during this wait had to be one of her worst.

Every time she had to read about the stupid heroine who was in love with the stupid boy and how the stupid boy loved her but they couldn't get together for some stupid reason…love stories were so stupid.

She closed the book and stuffed it into her large, navy blue messenger bag. She pulled out her cell phone and checked the time.

_11:47_

They were supposed to board the flight 32 minutes ago. Yet, being the international journalist that she was, she knew very well never to expect things—especially planes—to stick to their schedules.

"Now boarding for Flight 563 to Amiens. Now boarding for Flight 563 to Amiens. All passengers, please report to Gate 17. All passengers, please report to Gate 17."

_As if on cue_, Bijou thought. She eagerly put her phone back into her bag and stood up. She pulled the bag over her shoulder and walked—with a slight limp due to the weight of the bag—to Gate 17.

She got a feeling of satisfaction. It wasn't necessarily a good feeling, but if felt as though she had finally finished something. Like she had gotten some sort of closure. It wasn't a good feeling. She could live with it.

Though, any feeling of satisfaction was completely washed away when she saw who was standing before the gate, waiting for her in a semicircle of doom.

Panda, Penelope, Cappy, Dexter, Howdy, Pashmina, Boss, Stan with Sandy, Hamtaro and Little Bijou in the center.

_Cats._

She stopped.

Bijou gripped the strap around her shoulder. She glanced at all of them, slightly angered that they had the nerve to come and try and stop her, because she knew that was what they were going to do.

Without another word and a very deep breath, she stepped forward again, pushing between Hamtaro and Sandy as she moved.

She could see the woman at the gate entrance, collecting tickets. She was so close. She could feel herself sitting on the veranda of her French house, sipping an iced tea as she typed up another article, enjoying the gentle breeze of the European sunset. It was to be hers in a matter of hours.

"If you love father, then why are you leaving?"

From behind, her head got taller. Her shoulders straightened, and for a split-second she stood perfectly still.

She turned her head. For the Ham-Humans surrounding the French girl and the French girl herself, it became so quiet that even the slightest movements of her hair had noise.

"Little Bijou, even _you_ wouldn't understand," Bijou said quietly, keeping her back to them with her head to the side.

"Sure I would. You were the princess in the stories daddy would tell me. He's the prince. You were supposed to have a fairytale wedding and I was supposed to sing at it."

Bijou turned around completely. Little Bijou had broken away from the rest of the group and was standing a couple of feet in front of her.

Big Bijou leaned down. She gestured with her finger for Little Bijou to come closer.

Little Bijou obeyed. When she was close enough, Big Bijou pulled her close.

The two Bijous stayed in this embrace for a few seconds. Big Bijou seemed to be crying, but her face was buried in the dark brown hair of the little girl. Big Bijou pulled away after a moment. As she wiped a tear from her eyes, she continued to stare at the little girl.

"You know…the grown-ups haven't gotten together like this with everyone in one place since mother and father's anniversary party. Mother and father said they really weren't as close since you left before. They told me that last night. But they came for you. Everyone did. That means you're special," the girl said as a tear fell from her eye. "You can't leave if you're that special."

Bijou looked down. She didn't enjoy being the cause of a little girl's pain, but she was doing what was best. She knew she was.

"Remember what I told you about always keeping your feelings open, okay?" Her voice was low, though the rest of the adults around them heard every word.

"So you really are leaving?" Little Bijou asked. Even though they had just met yesterday, there was still an incredible amount of disappointment in her voice.

"Yeah…I am," the older girl responded as she sniffled. "I guess a prince and princess don't always end up together."

"I'll miss you," the little girl said. She never had to say goodbye to anyone before. It hurt to think that she would never see this white-haired princess anymore.

Bijou's eyes glowed. "I'll miss you too, Bijou."

Big Bijou stood up. She finished wiping her eyes and bit her lip.

She stared at Sandy.

"Good luck with your family and whatever else you choose to do. And, call her Bijou from now on. She doesn't need to be reminded of 'Big' Bijou," she said quietly.

Sandy nodded. "Thank you, Bijou-chan."

"And thank you, Panda-san," Bijou said as she turned to the carpenter. "You made my day so much better yesterday."

Bijou bowed in front of him.

"You don't have to leave," Panda reminded, but in response, all Bijou gave him was a pained look.

"Thank you, Boss-kun, for listening to me all those years ago. I'll always keep a special place for you in my heart." The French girl bowed before him too.

Boss looked away. He couldn't bear to see her leave. He mumbled, "You're welcome, Bijou-chan."

Bijou then glanced at the rest of the Ham-humans. Stan and Pashmina and Cappy and Penelope and Howdy and Dexter. She tried to etch the memory of them standing there forever into the confines of her mind.

For a moment, just watching all of them gave her a strong urge to rip up her boarding pass. She almost reached into her bag to do just that when the intercom rang again.

"Last call for Flight 563 to Amiens. Last call for Flight 563 to Amiens."

Bijou's hand instinctively moved out of her bag and onto her shoulder strap.

"Thank you, all of you, for reminding me of what selflessness could be. Five years ago, I did a selfish thing by leaving. Now, the selfish thing would be for me to stay."

She glanced over to Hamtaro.

"Learn to love her. Try to. She's one of the best, Hamtaro-san. Love her and try to give Li—your daughter—a normal family."

With one final glance at everyone, she bowed. She stayed that way for a good minute, letting gravity pull all her tears away from her face.

When she resurfaced, everyone seemed to be crying, or at least had tears in their eyes. She tried to remember if she ever saw Hamtaro cry before.

"Bijou…" the man said, keeping their eyes locked.

Bijou took a deep breath and sighed. She knew she needed to do this. She was going to give Sandy the family she deserved. She was the piece that didn't belong, so she was going to make sure she was cut of the picture for good.

She turned swiftly and walked toward the gate. There, she reached into her bag and gave her boarding pass to the woman at the podium. As she was cleared to board, she nearly ran into the entrance of the plane.

Without once looking back, she followed the long hallway into the plane and took her seat.

-

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**Hamtaro**

"She's doing what she thinks is best for you, Hamtaro," Stan reminded as he patted his friend on his back. "This is what she thinks is right."

"But I tried so hard to convince her that she didn't need to leave. That I wanted a life with her," Hamtaro explained as his face fell into his hands. Stan leaned back into his seat. He was the one who tried to calm Hamtaro down a few days after Bijou left five years ago. It felt like déjà vu.

Hamtaro glanced up. Across from him, Sandy was sitting in another row of seats. Her eyes were cast down. Hamtaro had lived with her long enough to know that she was feeling guilty.

"I don't blame you, Sandy-chan, for anything," Hamtaro reassured.

Sandy looked up, looking slightly startled. Though she seemed a little relieved, her brilliant lime green eyes still shook with tears.

"Thank you, Hamtaro-s—Hamtaro," she replied.

"It's leaving," Boss said as he watched a massive plane start moving down the lane.

Hamtaro, Sandy and Stan both stood up immediately as they joined the others by the window.

Boss couldn't watch. Bijou may have never returned his feelings, but she was still his first and so far only love. He couldn't bear to watch her plane take her away to the other side of the world.

Hamtaro's eyes stayed glued to the plane, almost daring it to take off. But as it went faster and faster down the path, he realized that she was moving faster and faster away from him.

"Do you think she'll be happy?" Sandy asked Pashmina as they watched the plane liftoff.

Pashmina looked at her best friend and couldn't respond. She honestly didn't know.

"No," Little Bijou responded from the other side of her mother. "She won't be happy."

"Why do you say that, Li—Bijou?" Hamtaro asked as he looked down at his daughter. "She can start a new life there, sweetie."

"Yeah, maybe, father," the girl thought as she watched the plane become a little dot in the clear blue sky. "But her chuujitsu is here."

"Her loyalty?" Dexter asked as he looked at the little girl.

"It was very obvious that she loved all her friends very much. Why else would she be crying like that when she was leaving? You're loyal to your friends, right?"

Every adult nodded their head at this rather obvious statement.

"And you're supposed to be loyal to everyone you love, right?"

Once again, everyone nodded.

"Well, everyone she cared for is here, I think. Until she makes more friends, her chuujitsu will remain here…"

The little girl kept her eyes on the sky as all the adults around felt a little more reassured that Bijou would be happy, ultimately. Both of them.

-

-

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-

-

**Bijou**

It was apparently foggy wherever they were flying over. All she could see outside her window was a gray mist. It was a little depressing, but Bijou promised that she wouldn't let herself get too sad anymore.

She had enough tears yesterday to last her for a lifetime.

She hated tears.

Bijou pulled down the shade for her window.

So, she decided to pull out her mp3 player. Perhaps a little classical music would make her feel better. Whenever her father played it, her spirits seemed to relax a little.

Any hopes of relaxing, though, were wiped away when she put her headphones in. As she turned her music player on, a ringing started running through her ears. Maybe it was just the song she was playing?

Bijou pressed a button and moved onto the next song. Again, a buzzing started to fill her ears. She went to the next song. It was the same thing. The song after that, the same thing.

Bijou pulled out the headphones. Maybe they had gone faulty or something. However, even with the headphones in her hands, the strange noise continued in her ears.

She felt a little indignant. What was with first class these days? The round-trip tickets to Japan and back were certainly not cheap, and with the investment she made in said tickets, she expected a decent, noiseless ride. And what was worse, the noise seemed to be getting louder.

Bijou looked down the aisle to see if any of the other passengers noticed the sounds. Strangely, though, they were all conversing or watching the on-flight movie or doing something that told Bijou they weren't affected by the noise.

Slowly, their voices were being drowned out by the noise. She tried moving her head to every direction, but nevertheless, her ears continuously rang as if she were standing beside a bee hive.

She heard tinnitus was caused by stress. Perhaps she would see if the airline carried any medicine for this malady, even though she remembered that there really was no treatment for this disorder.

Bijou stood up quickly. She practically tripped into the aisle, getting frantic as the noise got louder.

A flight attendant approached her.

"Miss, we _do_ have a button you can press if you need assistance." Bijou practically had to strain to hear her above the noise.

"My ears…they're making a noise," Bijou responded, unknowingly loud.

"Perhaps you're tired, Miss? I'll be happy to bring you a pillow, but first you must return to your seat."

The woman grabbed Bijou's hand and dragged her over to her little row.

"There you go," the woman said in a saccharine voice.

"No, you don't understand. There's something wrong!" Bijou probably didn't care that that was one of the worst things one could say on a plane. And with her voice being a little loud, the nearby passengers became more than a little jittery.

The flight attendant realized the damage control she needed to do.

"Please, Miss, I'll bring you some sleeping pills. Hmmm? How's that sound? In the meantime, you can look at the pretty sky outside." she lifted the shade. Bijou stared at the woman in disbelief.

"It's a little cloudy outside today. But it's a nice and brisk way to start your morning…"

Bijou pulled away from the woman. Perhaps it was the ringing in her ears, but the attendant's voice sounded like it was being done on a Mr. Microphone…

As the woman continued to convince Bijou to look out the window, Bijou noticed more and more that her voice was becoming less audible. Actually, the words were all merging together. They started to sound like a buzzing. A very familiar yet incredibly familiar buzzing.

But then, her voice formed a very clear sentence. "At the buzz it will be exactly six o'clock."

Bijou stared at the attendant incredulously.

And a second later, everything around her turned black and all she could hear was the buzz.

_Buzz._

_Buzz._

_Buzz._

The sixteen-year-old Bijou awoke with a jolt.

-

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I know, for a climax chapter this was lacking in action. But I recommend moving onto the next chapter now.

It's the epilogue.


	11. Epilogue

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**Epilogue**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**-**

**Bijou**

She stared at the sheets around her. They were too lush to be that of the hotel. And the fact that she was on a bed reassured her she wasn't on the plane anymore.

In fact, as she took in the surroundings, she realized exactly where she was:

Her bedroom.

But not the one she had in France. No, this was the bedroom of her house she lived in when she was a teenager. She was in Japan.

This bedroom, though, did not look like it had been abandoned for five years. It looked fresh. It had her clothes were hanging in her closet and a couple of books lying open on her desk and a bunch of hair accessories arranged in height order on the vanity.

She noticed her chest was heaving. She seemed a little short of breath. Trying to figure out what was going on, she stepped off her bed.

She walked closer to the vanity, wondering why everything looked just as how she left it five years ago. Even the scrunchie she borrowed from Sandy all those years ago was lying next to one of her hairbrushes.

She picked up the scrunchie and started to examine it. It still had a small strand of her white hair in it.

And then she looked in the mirror.

The scrunchie fell from her hand.

She reached out and touched her reflection, pressing her fingers against the cheekbones of her sixteen-year-old image.

She ran a finger through her hair. It was a little longer when she was sixteen. It ran all the way to her mid-back in white layers.

She stared back around the room. There was no suitcase. There was no passport. She didn't look as though she was preparing to leave.

And then it sunk in.

She had just woken from the worst nightmare she had ever experienced.

-

-

She had almost cried in happiness. Forgetting that she was still only in a nightgown, she ran into the hallway. The calendar on the wall was set on a data five years ago.

She quickly ran down the stairs and into the elegant foyer. Then she practically tore the door open and ran through.

It was raining. It was just a slight drizzle, though. Bijou didn't seem to mind at all. She was sixteen. She had never left. She didn't have to give up…

She looked up at the sky and noticed the cool raindrops against the warm tears on her face. But these were tears of happiness, and they were most definitely welcome.

She practically twirled in the walkway of her mansion, continuously crying. It all seemed too perfect to be true. She pinched herself a hundred times over on all different parts of her body, but she wasn't waking.

This part wasn't a dream. It was all too amazing.

But then it all stopped. Bijou stopped her twirling as she noticed a figure walking on the other side of the sidewalk behind her house's iron gates.

She was young. Around three years old, at most. Her hair fell in chestnut brown layers around her face and well into her back. She walked with a distinctive skip in her step, like most children did.

_No_, Bijou thought, panicking. She hesitantly approached the iron gates of her house and gripped one of the bars.

She didn't breathe as she watched the girl. For a second, she wanted to call out her name and ask her what she was doing at such an hour. She should've been with one of her parents. Was Sandy anywhere around?

Just as Bijou was about to speak, another voice rang out.

"Oh, Mina! Mina come back here! How many times do I have to tell you not to runaway like that from me?"

Bijou's grip on the iron bars loosened as she watched a woman who was clearly not Sandy reach out and pick up the girl who was clearly not…

Bijou closed her eyes and smiled to herself. She let go of the bar and decided to go back inside.

As she got to her front door, her mother was standing there with a cup of imported coffee in her hands.

"You were studying late last night, weren't you? I swear, you get three hours of sleep and this is what happens to your mentality."

"Actually, mother, the sleep I got last night felt more like five years to me," Bijou explained as she smiled. "Can you drive me to school?"

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**Sandy**

As soon as Maxwell walked through the doors of the high school, a strawberry-blonde bullet attacked him.

A couple of the boys let out rowdy whistles as she embraced him, practically crying into his collared shirt.

"S-s-sandy! W-what's going o-on?" Maxwell asked as a large blush swept across his face. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, silly," Sandy explained as she looked up. From the way her lime eyes were filled with tears, Maxwell could tell there was something much more profound going on here.

"Like, I just missed you, that's all," she said as she reburied her face into his chest. Maxwell's eyes softened.

"But you just saw me yesterday," he said in a caring voice as he wrapped his hands around her.

"But it felt like five years, Maxy."

"I guess I can be pretty darn missable," Maxwell joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey, Maxy?" Sandy asked as she pulled away from him and looked him in the eye.

"Mhmm?" he asked as he returned the stare.

"Promise me that if we ever have kids, we're never naming our daughter Bijou?"

o.O

"Wha..?"

"Promise!"

"But it just seems like such an unusual question-"

"Maxwell Librius if you _don't_ promise me-"

"Ok, Sandy, I promise that if we ever have kids, we'll never name our daughter Bijou. Though it is a lovely name, I suppose."

"Maxy!"

"What? Ok. I didn't know it was such a touchy topic."

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**Hamtaro**

Bijou wasn't on the bus this morning. Boss hadn't spoken with her since yesterday. Hamtaro was feeling panicked.

After waking up from a dream like _that_, he needed reassurance. He needed to talk with one person desperately to know that their friendship could possibly evolve into something much more.

But, after seeing her not on the bus, there was only so much he could jump to. She wouldn't leave without telling Boss, would she?

"And I was apparently the manager of a restaurant where the two of you worked," Hamtaro heard Pashmina tell Howdy and Dexter as he turned a hallway corner.

"Right, and I was an incredible soup chef and all this idiot could make was rotten fish," Dexter responded.

"Ya no-good, four-eyed freak! My sushi was ten times better than your soup du eww!"

"So you guys are saying we all had the same dream?" Stan asked as he came beside Howdy and Dexter.

"It looks like it," Panda replied as he stepped beside Pashmina.

The group of Ham-Humans standing there looked at each other nervously.

"Has anyone seen Bijou?" Pashmina asked.

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His heart was restless. It had been since he had noted her absence on the bus. It scared him more than he thought it would, but he wouldn't let it bring his spirits down. Not until he knew for sure, anyway.

And then, as if someone had answered his prayers, he saw her.

She was leaning against his locker, her head tilted a little. The ends of her dripped with water droplets and her cheeks looked rosy.

She was smiling.

He walked to her, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Uhh..you weren't answering your phone," he explained. "I tried to call you a whole bunch…what I mean is that when I didn't see you on the bus, I was worried, you know? That maybe you were sick or something."

"Don't worry," she replied. "I don't have any plans of leaving anytime soon."

"I hope not." He locked his eyes with her. They both understood perfectly well.

"We need to talk-"

"I love you," he said quickly, not letting another second pass without her knowing. "It's not just as a friend. I've never felt this way about anyone before; it's kinda scary, actually—but nice! Don't get me wrong… And I think…I'm _hoping_ that's what you meant when you said you loved me all those times."

Bijou smiled. "I know you do."

She took his hand into hers. The sight made him smile.

"And, silly boy, that's exactly what we need to talk about."

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**The End**

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Well, ok, that was the end. The epilogue only took about half an hour or so to type since it was the most planned out chapter in the story.

That line, from the pervious chapter, "Five years ago, I did a selfish thing by leaving. Now, the selfish thing would be for me to stay", was the inspiration for the entire story. When I first came up with that line, the plot came naturally.

I'm sorry if the ending was lame or clichéd or something like that. This was honestly the way the story was planned out since the beginning. I promised a Hamtaro/Bijou ending, didn't I?

So yes, please review. I probably won't be doing another angsty fic like this ever again. It was so much fun to write. The emotions and all the crying…I had never written so deeply (at least, I hope it was deep) before.

I hope you didn't think the ending was too rushed.

Once again, please review! I'd love any feedback on this ending.

And thank you all for reading this fic! Thank you for bearing with me. I appreciate it!

The very, very appreciative,

-CN


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